Interior minister apologizes over police handling of Gwangju murder case

Minister of Interior and Safety Yun Ho-jung apologized on Thursday over allegations of a police cover-up in an investigation into the murder of a high school student in Gwangju, promising to root out corruption within the force and overhaul how it conducts investigations.

Yun set out his position at the Government Complex in Seoul in a public statement on ending corruption in police investigations and strengthening democratic oversight of law enforcement.

He offered an apology to the victim's family and to the public.

"As the interior minister responsible for the lives and safety of the public, I express my deep regret and offer my condolences to the victim's bereaved family, and I am sorry for the concern I have caused the public," the interior minister said.

"The government is treating this situation gravely," he said. "To restore the public trust that has collapsed because of the inadequate and obscured investigation, we will root out corruption inside the police and thoroughly reform the investigation system."

Yun vowed to hold those responsible accountable and to keep corrupt officers out of the force.

"We will make sure that no one responsible for this, and no corrupt officer, can set foot inside the police," he said. "To remove collusion that comes from officers' local ties, we will fully adopt a rotational assignment system. And through self-reporting and mandatory recusal in cases involving officers' spouses or immediate family, we will fundamentally end the practice of officers shielding their own."

He said the reforms would go beyond internal corruption to build outside checks on police investigations.

"We will not stop at eliminating internal corruption," Interior Minister Yun said. "Through strong democratic controls and checks and balances among institutions, we will establish a thorough system to monitor police investigative work. We will strengthen the powers of the National Police Commission so it can properly serve as a civilian body overseeing the police, and we will set up a dedicated external body to monitor and inspect police investigations so that democratic control and independent oversight become real."

The minister also pointed to checks between the police and the Public Prosecution Office, a new agency due to launch later this year.

"Through checks between the police and the Public Prosecution Office, which is set to launch, we will fundamentally end the possibility of botched investigations," he said. "If the police do not carry out a Public Prosecution Office request for a supplementary investigation and a fair investigation becomes difficult, we will let the prosecutor change the investigation team and the investigating station. For important cases, such as those where the statute of limitations is near, we will require the police to respond at once when a prosecutor requests a joint investigation."

He said the government would also use the investigative powers of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency to look into crimes and misconduct by judicial investigative officers at other agencies.

Yun closed by framing the measures as a starting point.

"Today's steps are not an end but a beginning, a start toward becoming a police force the public can trust," he said. "We will remake the police into a force that does not waver over personal ties but stakes its life on justice, and we will rebuild trust and fairness in police investigations from the ground up, to meet the public's expectations."

The suspect in the Gwangju case, Jang Yun-gi, has been indicted and detained on charges of fatally stabbing a high school student he had never met on a street in Gwangsan District on May 5. Suspicions of impropriety and evidence tampering in the investigation surfaced after it came to light that Jang's father is a police officer, and probes by both the police and the prosecution have since expanded.

BY JANG GU-SEUL [[email protected]]