Officer arrested for prematurely closing missing person cases

A police officer suspected of closing a missing person case without confirming the woman's safety has been placed under emergency arrest, police said Sunday.

The officer was detained without a warrant the previous day on suspicion of dereliction of duty, falsifying official electronic records and obstruction of official duties through deceptive means, according to the Jeju Provincial Police Agency.

The emergency arrest was made after the officer was found to have closed another missing person case prematurely, which was revealed through the discovery of the man's body on Saturday.

The missing woman, 37-year-old Jang Mi-ran, has yet to be found, more than three months after she was initially reported missing by her family.

In both cases, the police officer is suspected of arbitrarily closing them after telling the families that the missing people were safe.

The officer has claimed that he closed Jang's case after reporting to supervisors that he spoke with her, but a recent investigation found no call records between the two.

The police and the Coast Guard began a full-scale search for Jang on Thursday.

Yonhap