"Writing 'Death' Closes the Case": Missing Person Erroneously Processed as 'Traffic Accident Fatality'

It has been revealed that Police Inspector Boo of the Jeju Seobu Police Station, who is suspected of repeatedly and falsely closing missing person cases under his charge, deleted data related to Jang Mi-ran under the pretext of a "traffic accident fatality."

The Anti-Corruption and Economic Crime Investigation Unit of the Jeju Provincial Police Agency confirmed that while closing the missing person case of Jang, Inspector Boo deleted Jang-related data registered in the "Missing Persons Profiling Management List" system and entered "traffic accident fatality" as the reason.

After receiving a missing person report from Jang's romantic partner at around 6:40 PM on May 15, Inspector Boo lied by stating, "I got in touch with Jang, but she asked not to disclose her location," and subsequently closed the case at 9:16 PM.

Police believe that Inspector Boo entered the fabricated reason of a "traffic accident fatality" by exploiting the system's rule that entering "death" as the reason automatically closes the case.

It was also revealed that Inspector Boo closed a missing person case involving a man in his 60s received last month (July 2026) after falsely recording that "the man's whereabouts had been found."

The body presumed to be Jang was found in Hallim-eup, Jeju City, yesterday morning (August 24, 2026), 104 days after she went missing, while the man in his 60s was found dead in Songdang-ri, Gujwa-eup, Jeju City, on the 22nd (August 22, 2026).

It was confirmed that the number of missing person cases handled by Inspector Boo over his 1-year-and-5-month tenure reaches 298.

The Korean National Police Agency announced today (August 25, 2026) that it has placed all four members of the command line at the Jeju Seobu Police Station on standby assignment in connection with Inspector Boo's false closure of missing person cases.

The individuals subject to this measure are the former Jeju Seobu Police Station chief at the time the case was first received, the current chief, the head of the detective division, and the head of the missing persons team.

Reported by Jung Da-eun | Video by Kim Hye-ju | Graphics by Lee Jung-joo | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.