[Anchor]
Prosecutors and police investigating allegations of misconduct in the Jang Yoon-gi case have simultaneously raided the National Office of Investigation (NOI) at the National Police Agency. The investigation is expanding to determine the extent of involvement by senior police officials in the alleged downplaying and cover-up of charges during the investigation into Jang Yoon-gi.
Reporter An Huijae has the story.
[Reporter]
The special police investigation team announced that it began executing search and seizure warrants at the National Office of Investigation at 7:30 a.m. today (July 21).
The raid, which targets offices including the Violent Crime Investigation Division, marks the first time the NOI has been subjected to a compulsory investigation since the launch of the special investigation team for the Jang Yoon-gi case.
The special investigation team explained that the raid is intended to verify the overall reporting and command structure during the initial investigation into Jang Yoon-gi.
They intend to determine whether the National Office of Investigation intervened in the process of charging Jang with general murder, which carries a lighter sentence, rather than rape-murder, despite internal opinions from the investigation team at Gwangju Gwangsan Police Station.
Based on statements from individuals such as Superintendent Park, the former head of the detective division at Gwangju Gwangsan Police Station, the special investigation team suspects that the NOI may have been behind the decision last May to assign Jang's murder of a high school girl and the stalking and rape of a Vietnamese woman to separate investigation teams.
It is reported that Superintendent Park testified during questioning that he had considered consolidating the two cases, but was instructed by the National Office of Investigation to split the investigation between the detective division and the women and youth affairs division.
About an hour earlier, investigators from the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office also began raids on the offices of the heads of the Violent Crime Investigation Division and the Women and Youth Affairs Division at the NOI.
Following the raids on the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency and Gwangju Gwangsan Police Station, which were in charge of the practical command of the Jang Yoon-gi investigation, the targeting of the National Office of Investigation suggests that the probe into so-called senior police officials is now in full swing.
A decision on whether to arrest Superintendent Park, the former head of the detective division at Gwangsan Police Station, is expected as early as this afternoon. Park is accused of acting as a bridge between former Gwangsan Police Station Chief Superintendent Kim and the investigation team for the Jang Yoon-gi case, which has already been referred to the prosecution under detention, and of leading the application of the general murder charge.
(Video reporting: Joo Beom, Choi Dae-woong | Video editing: Park Chun-bae)
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