Jeju Police Find Another 'False Closure' Case... National Office of Investigation Chief Issues Public Apology

The body of a man in his 60s was discovered at a location in Jeju yesterday (August 22).

The deceased was identified as Mr. A, who had been reported missing 51 days prior. After seeing the case of the missing person Jang Mi-ran, Mr. A's family filed another missing person report with the police, prompting police to resume the investigation. Through mobile phone location tracking, the body was found in just one day.

The police officer initially in charge of this case was Inspector B of the Jeju Seobu Police Station, the same officer who handled the case of Jang Mi-ran, who has been missing for three months.

Last month on July 2, Inspector B lied to the family of Mr. A, who had filed the missing person report, saying, "I spoke with the missing person on the phone, and they asked not to disclose their location." The officer then unilaterally "self-closed" the case on the police internal network.

Mr. A was unable to be reached by his family ever since.

It is the exact same modus operandi used in the Jang Mi-ran case.

The most crucial "golden time" to find the missing person was helplessly wasted once again.

As public outrage erupted, the Chief of the National Office of Investigation visited the Jeju Provincial Police Agency today, received a briefing on the case, and bowed their head in apology, stating, "I feel deeply apologetic to the public" and "We will implement institutional safeguards to ensure such incidents never happen again."

Prime Minister Han Sung-sook also ordered the National Police Agency to conduct a thorough and comprehensive fact-finding investigation into the entire investigative process.

Furthermore, the Prime Minister emphasized, "Take stern action with a zero-tolerance policy against prank calls and fake news that bring grief to the families of missing persons."

Yesterday, the police urgently arrested Officer A on charges including dereliction of duty, forgery of official electronic records, and obstruction of performance of official duties by fraudulent means.

(Reported by Yeo Hyeon-gyo | Video editing by Na Hong-hee | Design by Lee Jung-joo | Produced by SBS Digital News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.