63 Missing Person Cases Disappeared Without a Trace... Absurd Excuse Blaming the Youngest

Police investigating the false closure of a missing person case in Jeju have confirmed signs of additional mishandling of cases by the suspect, Police Officer Boo.

According to a full police investigation, out of 298 cases independently closed by Officer Boo while working on the missing persons team at the Jeju Seobu Police Station from March 10, 2025, to July 23 of this year, 63 cases were either omitted from the missing persons profiling system entirely or deleted.

Among the deleted cases was that of a person in their 30s surnamed Chang, who was found dead after being falsely closed as resolved.

By protocol, failing to input a case into the missing persons profiling system is reportedly permitted only in limited instances, such as when a report is confirmed to be a misidentification during the 112 dispatch process or when the missing person is found immediately.

Another issue is that over the 16-month period, the number of cases independently closed by Officer Boo reached 235, which was higher than those of fellow police officers.

This is a significantly higher figure compared to the 137 and 37 cases independently closed by other officers who worked during similar periods.

Regarding this, the police explained, "For daytime shifts, two officers form a team, and tasks such as entering data into the missing persons profiling system are typically handled by Officer Boo, who was the youngest member of the team."

According to the National Office of Investigation under the Korean National Police Agency, the police have virtually concluded a comprehensive investigation into all 298 missing person cases independently closed by Officer Boo and are intensely interrogating him regarding his motives.

Hong Seok-ki, head of the National Office of Investigation, explained during a press briefing today, "The Jeju Provincial Police Agency will hold a briefing tomorrow regarding whether additional suspicious cases were identified during the comprehensive review."

To date, four commanders in the chain of command, including current and former chiefs of the Jeju Seobu Police Station, have been placed on standby and are undergoing internal inspection, but no individuals other than Officer Boo have been booked so far.

Taking the incident as an opportunity, the police have launched a nationwide comprehensive inspection of missing person cases closed over the past three years and are revamping their investigative system.

Reported by Lee Hyeon-yeong | Video by Lee Da-in | Design by Yang Hye-min | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.