Police investigation office raided over suspected evidence tampering in Gwangju murder case
Authorities executed a search and seizure warrant Tuesday morning over allegations surrounding investigators and the suspect's father, a police officer.
A view of the National Office of Investigation at the Korean National Police Agency headquarters in Seodaemun District, western Seoul.JOONGANG ILBO
Police raided the National Office of Investigation (NOI), an internal division of the Korean National Police Agency, on Tuesday to investigate allegations of misconduct by authorities in the Gwangju high school student murder case.
Searches began at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday at the NOI’s violent crime investigation division and other offices in Seodaemun District, western Seoul, according to the special police investigation team examining the case. Prosecutors simultaneously carried out a separate raid as part of their own probe.
The searches are intended to secure reports and other materials related to the oversight and direction of the original investigation, in which police officials are suspected of tampering with evidence and deviating from procedure in the case against Jang Yun-gi, whose father is a police officer.
Many officers with links to the murder investigation said the NOI had shaped its direction from the start. They also said the agency was behind the decision to drop the recommendation that Jang be charged with rape and murder.
“The Jang Yun-gi case was considered a ‘major case’ that drew nationwide attention from the stage when police were tracking the suspect,” a police official who participated in the original investigation said. “Cases like this do not normally have a decision-making structure that allows officers in the field to make judgments or reach conclusions on their own.”
According to the official, a senior officer reversed course after hearing from the NOI.
“I remember that a senior officer who had supported charging Jang with rape and murder changed position after receiving the NOI’s view that the matter should be handled cautiously because there was no direct evidence, such as a confession from Jang,” the official said.
Prosecutors from the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office also began their raid earlier in the day.
Jang Yun-gi, accused of killing a teenage high school student, is escorted out of Gwangju Seobu Police Station in Gwangju on the morning of May 14 to be handed over to prosecutors.NEWS1
“We have been searching the NOI’s majorcrime investigation division and other locations since 6:15 a.m. Tuesday in connection with allegations including the disclosure of official secrets and destruction of evidence by police,” the dedicated investigation team of the prosecutors' office said.
Prosecutors and police carried out raids under separate warrants. Prosecutors reportedly arrived at the scene first and began their search, while police waitedbefore starting their own procedures.
Both agencies suspect the original investigation into Jang was deliberately mishandled — including a failure to secure key evidence and the disregarding of key circumstances — and are each examining whether officials in the chain of command were involved.
The case traces back to the May 5 stabbing death of a high school student in Gwangju's Gwangsan District. Jangwas indicted and taken into custody on May 14as the suspect in the killing. The probe later expanded after allegations surfaced that evidence had been tampered with or handed over to the suspect's father, and that investigators had pushed the case toward a lesser charge.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
