Jeju officer says workload burden led him to falsely close missing persons cases

The police officer accused of falsely closing missing persons cases on Jeju Island said he did so because he was burdened by his workload, as he was referred to prosecutors in detention on Tuesday.

The officer, surnamed Bu, was referred to the Jeju District Prosecutors’ Office in detention on Tuesday on charges including dereliction of duty, falsifying and using official electronic records and obstruction of official duties by deception, according to the Jeju Special Self-Governing Provincial Police Agency.

Bu said during the investigation that he falsely told the person who filed the report that he had spoken with the missing person, according to the police. He also said he had "taken the case lightly because the missing person was an ordinary adult" and closed the case because he "felt burdened by having to hand it over, as there would be a lot to follow up on if it remained open."

Police also released the findings of an analysis conducted by a profiler.

“Negligence driven by fatigue from an accumulated workload and increasing responsibility appears to have been the primary underlying factor,” the police profiler said. “The suspect’s avoidant response and irresponsible attitude combined to ultimately result in the false closure of the case.”

Bu is accused of improperly handling and falsely closing a missing persons report for Jang Mi-ran, filed during his night shift on May 15. Jang lost contact with others after leaving the lodging where she had been staying long-term in Hallim-eup, Jeju City, on May 12.

Bu told the person who filed the report that he had contacted Jang but that Jang had asked for her location not to be disclosed. However, phone records from Bu’s mobile phone, the police station’s internal phone system and Jang’s mobile phone showed no evidence that the two had spoken. Investigators also found that Bu entered Jang into the police missing persons profiling system as a casualty of a traffic accident, and removed her from the list of people requiring further monitoring.

The police investigation resumed only after Jang’s family filed another missing persons report in July. Jang was found dead on Aug. 24, 104 days after she went missing, at a palm tree farm about 400 meters (440 yards) from her lodging.

Based on findings from the National Forensic Service, police said the body was too badly decomposed to determine the exact cause of death, although hanging could not be ruled out. Police initially placed greater weight on the possibility of suicide based on circumstances at the scene but are continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding Jang’s death, including the possibility that she was the victim of a crime.

Concerns have also been raised that because no search was conducted immediately after the initial missing persons report, much of the evidence that could have helped determine when and how Jang died has been lost.

Bu is also accused of closing another missing persons case involving a man in his 60s, reported missing on July 2, in a similar manner. Although Bu had not actually spoken with the man, he recorded in the police system that contact had been made through another phone and that the man did not want to contact his family.

A search for the man also began only after his family repeatedly reported him missing. He was found dead on Aug. 22 at a construction site in Songdang-ri, Gujwa-eup, Jeju City.

Whether Bu falsely closed additional cases is among the issues prosecutors seek to determine.

Bu handled 298 missing persons reports while working on the missing persons team at Jeju Seobu Police Station from March 2025 through July this year. Of those, 63 were either never entered into the missing persons profiling system or had related records deleted.

Police have been examining the cases by separating those that were properly closed from those involving failures to enter information and those in which records may have been deliberately deleted.

The Jeju District Prosecutors’ Office formed a dedicated investigation team and plans to question Bu about the motive behind the alleged offenses, whether additional cases were falsely closed and whether anyone suffered harm as a result.

The Korean National Police Agency is conducting an internal investigation into managers responsible for supervision at the time and Bu’s fellow officers. No other police officers have been booked in connection with the case so far.

BY CHOI CHOONG-IL [[email protected]]