Body Believed to Be Missing Woman Found 104 Days After Disappearance

A body believed to be that of Jang Mi-ran, who went missing in Jeju last May, has been found 104 days after her disappearance.

The Jeju Provincial Police Agency announced that it discovered a body believed to be Jang at around 10:46 a.m. today (the 24th) during a joint search near Hallim-eup, Jeju.

The body is in a state of advanced decomposition, making visual identification impossible, and police plan to determine the identity and cause of death through forensics.

A police official said, "Judging by the current condition of the body, we consider the possibility of criminal foul play to be low."

The location where Jang's body was found is about 1 kilometer away, or a 10-minute walk, from the place where she left her long-term accommodation around 10:15 p.m. on May 12.


Jang's boyfriend reported her missing to the Jeju Western Police Station at around 6:43 p.m. on May 15.

Immediately upon receiving the report, police tracked Jang's mobile phone location and subsequently learned that she had moved to Hallim Port.

However, Police Officer A, who received Jang's missing person report, called Jang's boyfriend—the reporter—and stated, "We have made contact with Jang and she is safe," adding, "However, Jang said not to disclose her location to her boyfriend or others."

Furthermore, Officer A closed the case at around 9:16 p.m. on May 15, some two and a half hours after the report, and also deleted the data related to Jang from the missing person profiling system on the same day.

Police are investigating the possibility that the deletion of the missing person profiling management list meant entering "unidentified dead body," which implies that Jang had died.

Due to Officer A's closure of the case, police officers from the Hallim Police Box who had been dispatched to Hallim Port to search based on the 112 report at the time were all withdrawn, bringing all searches to a halt.

As Jang remained unreachable, her boyfriend attempted to file a report again on July 17, but Officer A's record stating "do not tell the boyfriend her contact information" remained, preventing the report from being accepted.

Subsequently, Jang's family filed a re-report in Seoul on July 19, prompting the resumption of the search.

Police had been conducting searches since early this month around Hallim Port and other areas believed to be her last known location, but failed to find Jang.


It was revealed that Officer A also falsely closed the case of a man in his 60s who was reported missing on the 2nd, in addition to Jang's case.

For this case as well, Officer A closed the case after telling the reporting family, similar to Jang's case, that "we made contact with the missing man in his 60s, but he said he does not want to meet police officers and asked not to disclose his location to his family."

After Jang's case was reported in the media, the family of the man in his 60s re-reported it to the police on the 21st, and the missing man was found dead the next day, the 22nd.

Police emergency arrested Officer A, are investigating the detailed motives, and applied for an arrest warrant today.

Police are also investigating whether there are any further cases of false closures among those handled by Officer A.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.