Another Body Found in Jeju... Growing Doubts Over "298 Handled Missing Cases"

[Anchor]

The police officer in charge of the Jang Mi-ran case has handled a total of 298 missing person reports so far. Including this case, it appears necessary to fundamentally re-examine how the police have handled adult missing person cases overall.

Here is the report by reporter Kwon Min-kyu.

[Reporter]

Police Inspector A at the Jeju Seobu Police Station, who falsely processed the missing person case of Jang Mi-ran, has been investigated for handling a total of 298 missing person reports, including Jang's case.

Inspector A worked in the missing persons team for about one year and five months until the 11th, when he was relieved of his duties.

[Yoo Jae-seong / Acting Commissioner General of the Korean National Police Agency: As I have been briefed, 298 cases were handled. Through a full inspection, we will make it clearer whether there are any cases like this....]

Among the approximately 70,000 adult missing person reports received by the police last year, 99.7% of the cases were concluded without full-scale searches.

Unresolved cases that remain in a missing status account for only 0.3%, raising growing doubts over whether missing person cases have been handled properly.

[Professor Park Dong-gyu / Department of Police Administration, Daegu Haany University: There could be cases like this that actually occurred but are not captured in the (missing person) statistics. The actual number is likely much larger than what is being grasped....]

Current laws related to missing persons focus on preventing the disappearance of children under 18, dementia patients, and individuals with intellectual disabilities. Adults aged 18 and older are referred to as runaway persons who left home of their own accord, drawing criticism that this may lead to complacent perceptions among police officers.

[Professor Yum Gun-woong / Division of Police and Fire Administration, U1 University: Families (of missing persons) place more weight on the possibility that they disappeared due to someone else. However, the police currently begin their investigation from the opposite side of that supposition.]

The missing persons profiling system introduced in 2011 is also being pointed out as problematic because investigating officers can close cases without approval from a superior, preventing other officers from filtering out a single officer's manipulation of a case.

President Lee Jae-myung ordered a thorough investigation into the entire police inquiry process regarding this missing person case.

[Kang Yu-jung / Senior Presidential Spokesperson: The President expressed a heavy heart and deep regret. He instructed that fundamental overhaul measures, as well as an internal police reform plan, be prepared.]

In Jeju, bodies presumed to be missing persons were discovered successively in a valley in Aewol-eup and off the coast of Jocheon-eup on the 24th, bringing the total number of missing bodies found in just two days since the 22nd to four.

The National Police Agency launched an inspection today into the false closure process of the Jeju missing person case and the overall command and management.

(Video by Lee Hong-myung, Design by Hwang Se-yeon)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.