Did Jeju Police's Lax Management System Worsen 30-Something Woman's Disappearance Case?

▲ Police begin intensive search for missing person after three months

Questions are mounting over the background of why Jeju police closed the initial missing person report regarding 37-year-old Ms. Chang three months ago.

This is because it has become increasingly likely that Police Officer A, who received the initial report as a night-shift worker, closed the case independently without actually speaking with Ms. Chang.

According to the Jeju Provincial Police Agency yesterday (the 20th), Officer A did not enter the initial report into the Missing Children Profiling System when closing it last May.

Under the "Rules on Handling Cases of Missing Children and Runaways," if a person reported is judged to have been reported for purposes other than the discovery of a missing child or runaway, or if the report is deemed false, entry into the missing children profiling system may be omitted.

Therefore, the possibility has been raised that Officer A judged Ms. Chang's missing person report to be a false report.

In addition, Officer A's statement that "the case was reported to a supervisor prior to closure" is also being called into question.

Consequently, the police are investigating the possibility that Officer A closed the case on their own judgment without reporting it to a superior.

The Jeju Provincial Police Agency booked Officer A on the 14th and has launched a full-scale investigation into charges of dereliction of duty.

This comes nearly a month after Ms. Chang's missing person case was re-filed on the 19th of last month.

Officer A still maintains that the case was closed after getting in touch with Ms. Chang, but no evidence related to the phone call has been found yet.

Police investigations revealed no record of a call with a police officer in the call logs of the missing Ms. Chang's mobile phone, and an internal probe by the relevant police station also failed to find any evidence of such a call.

A police official stated, "We need to verify aspects such as the basis for Officer A's claim that they spoke with the missing person, and the matter of whether it was not reported to a supervisor has not yet been investigated."

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