"Handle Sexual Assault Case Quietly": Former National Investigation Headquarters Chief Indicted

[Anchor]

Regarding allegations surrounding the cover-up of the Jang Yoon-gi case, prosecutors have indicted four senior officials from the National Investigation Headquarters, including former Chief Park Sung-ju. Prosecutors concluded that Park, fearing public backlash over failures in initial police response, ordered the murder and sexual assault cases to be investigated separately, telling officials to "handle the sexual assault case quietly."

This is reporter Kim Su-yun.

[Reporter]

The Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office announced that it has indicted former National Investigation Headquarters Chief Park Sung-ju without detention on charges of abuse of authority.

He is accused of improperly ordering separate investigations into the stalking and sexual assault of a foreign woman and the murder of a female high school student committed by Jang Yoon-gi.

Prosecutors stated that two months prior to the incident in March, amid rising public criticism of the police following the Namyangju stalking murder case, Park worried that if it was revealed Jang's stalking and sexual assault led to the high schooler's murder, criticism over botched police responses would intensify.

[Shin Tae-hoon / Deputy Chief Prosecutor, Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office: Saying, 'Let's handle the rape quietly,' and 'It's not that we're intentionally hiding it, but there's no need for us to bring it up first, right?' he instructed that the stalking/rape case and the murder case be investigated separately by different investigative departments.]

Investigations also revealed that senior officials at the National Investigation Headquarters followed Park's instructions and rejected the Gwangsan Police Station investigative team's request to merge the investigations.

Along with Park, prosecutors indicted three other National Investigation Headquarters officials without detention, including the acting head of the violent crimes investigation division.

Prosecutors stated that due to Park's improper intervention, the Gwangsan Police Station team failed to properly uncover the murder motive and the sexual assault objective, ultimately transferring Jang to prosecutors solely on a charge of murder.

In response, Park stated, "This was an entirely normal and routine operational instruction," adding, "I cannot acknowledge or accept the unreasonable logical framework that I ordered separate investigations to evade public criticism and prevented necessary investigations from being properly conducted."

(Video reporting: Jung Kyung-moon | Video editing: Yu Mi-ra | Design: Lee Ga-jin)

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