A police officer charged with leaking investigative details and helping to destroy key evidence in the Jang Yun-gi case leaves the Gwangju District Court after a pretrial release hearing on July 8.NEWS1
A police team leader arrested on charges of destroying key evidence in the Jang Yun-gi murder case had previously received a ministerial commendation for his work protecting crime victims, records showed Tuesday.
The superintendent is accused of passing investigative information to Jang's father, a serving police captain, and helping conceal key evidence linked to the case.
The police received a commendation from the Minister of the Interior and Safety on the 77th Police Day in October 2022, for "making outstanding contributions to protecting crime victims through a strong sense of duty," according to records submitted by the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency to the office of Rep. Shin Dong-uk of the People Power Party.
The citation said the police personally managed 128 crime victims, provided smartwatches to 74 victims who feared for their safety and helped connect them with psychological counseling and medical assistance. It also credited him with helping bereaved families of violent crime victims receive funeral expenses and educational support.
The officer, who joined the police in 1996, had received 43 commendations as of last year. He was named an exemplary public servant and received a Prime Minister's commendation in 2008. In 2023, the detective unit he led was recognized as Gwangju's Outstanding Detective Team.
Prosecutors believe the police concealed a 50-centimeter (19.7-inch) industrial cable tie found inside Jang's SUV, which they consider key evidence supporting the charge of murder committed in the course of rape.
Investigators led by the police found the cable tie inside Jang's vehicle on May 5, the day a high school student was killed, according to prosecutors.
The police officer accused of helping Jang Yun-gi's father conceal key evidence gets into a police van after attending a pretrial release hearing at Gwangju District Court on July 8.YONHAP
The officer allegedly instructed members of the investigative team to "leave the cable tie where it was."
The following day, the police allegedly handed the vehicle over to Jang's father, who then removed the cable tie and hid it at his home.
Police initially referred Jang to prosecutors on a murder charge. After conducting a supplementary investigation, prosecutors upgraded the charge to murder committed in the course of rape and indicted him. Unlike ordinary murder, which carries penalties ranging from at least five years in prison to the death penalty, murder committed in the course of rape is punishable only by death or life imprisonment.
Records also showed that Jang's father had received 34 commendations since joining the police in 2000.
"The Jang Yun-gi case symbolically demonstrates how dangerous it would be to completely abolish prosecutors' authority to conduct supplementary investigations, as the Democratic Party is pushing for," Rep. Shin said. "The commendations awarded to the two police officers who concealed the crime of one of their own should all be revoked, and they should be punished severely."
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.
