Senior police officers bow to apologize for the agency's misconduct during a governmental meeting in Sejong on Aug. 26.NEWS1
A string of failures by the police — from allegedly concealing evidence in a murder case to prematurely closing multiple missing persons cases — is fueling calls within the force for tighter discipline and a systematic overhaul.
Observers cited gaps in the law and a shortage of dedicated officers for police officers’ struggles to respond effectively to missing adult cases.
“Either the legal restrictions need to be eased so that police can swiftly embark on search missions for missing adults, or more officers need to be put in the field,” a police inspector with experience on a missing persons team told the JoongAng Ilbo on Wednesday. “One of the two must change.”
Under the National Police Agency’s (NPA) regulations, missing adults are classified as “runaways” rather than missing persons, which bars law enforcement from obtaining telecommunications records and tracking their cell phone location without a relevant court-issued warrant.
“Warrants are only issued if there is evidence of a suspected crime, so officers on the ground ultimately have no choice but to put as many people as possible into a physical search,” the inspector said.
“But we’re shorthanded. At stations without dedicated missing persons teams, detectives and juvenile affairs officers must juggle these cases with their regular workload.”
The inspector also noted that officers are often reluctant to take on the work because they have little authority and too few people, yet must bear enormous responsibility if something goes wrong.
The statistics reflect the staffing shortage.
The number of officers assigned to missing persons teams at police stations nationwide fell 8.1 percent from 848 in December 2021 to 779 in March, according to NPA data submitted to People Power Party Rep. Kim Yea-ji.
A police officer surnamed Bu, accused of falsely closing multiple missing persons cases, leaves the Jeju District Court on Aug. 25.NEWS1
Additionally, 114 of the country’s 261 police stations — equivalent to 43.7 percent — do not have even a single team dedicated to investigating missing persons cases, according to the NPA.
Fourteen of the 17 police stations under the Gangwon Provincial Police Agency have no such teams; the Chuncheon, Wonju and Gangneung police stations are the only exceptions.
Some stations under the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency, including the Yangpyeong Police Station, also have none.
Most stations serve relatively small populations of fewer than 250,000, but their jurisdictions can stretch across wide areas, which complicates searches for missing people.
But the number of missing persons reports continues to rise.
Police received 125,383 missing persons reports last year, a 16.8 percent increase from 107,381 in 2021.
More than 10 bills have been introduced since 2015 that would allow police to track locations or obtain surveillance camera footage without a warrant when a missing adult needs to be found quickly, but none have passed the National Assembly.
A palm tree plantation in Jeju Island, where the body of Jang Mi-ran was found, cordoned off by police on Aug. 26NEWS1
Following the incident on Jeju Island, in which an officer surnamed Bu allegedly closed multiple missing persons cases, police plan to overhaul the system that allows officers to close missing persons cases on their own.
“Missing persons cases are the only cases in which an officer can close a case alone and report [the decision] to supervisors afterward,” a detective working in Seoul said. “The system makes no sense.”
Instead, police plan to introduce a two-step verification process requiring supervisors, including team and division chiefs, to review the handling officer’s grounds for closing a missing persons case, verify the information and approve the closure.
Some officers, however, argue that the problem extends to workplace culture.
“Compared to the mainland, I’ve noticed that officers [on Jeju] are sent out less frequently for reports involving women, [minors] and traffic incidents,” one officer said. “Instructions from higher-ups on how local police units should respond also tend to be broad or lukewarm.”
A person at the National Police Agency's headquarters in Seodaemun District, western Seoul, on Aug. 26YONHAP
Some officers also say that people’s false or exaggerated reports add to the strain by diverting attention and resources from people potentially at greater risk.
“Parents sometimes report their children as missing because they disapprove of the people that they spend time with or simply want them to come home quickly, even when they know that the children went out voluntarily,” a police superintendent working in the greater Seoul area said. “Such reports can divert resources from high-risk missing persons cases.”
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.
