"Police Were on the Side of the Murderer": Mother's Tearful Plea

[Anchor]

As allegations of a police cover-up regarding the murder of a high school girl in Gwangju continue to surface, the bereaved family of the late Lee Chae-won has spoken out for the first time. They criticized the police, whom they once trusted, for being on the side of the murderer, calling their actions a dereliction of duty and a deception.

Reporter Kim Minjun has the story.

[Reporter]

[Conduct a thorough investigation! (Investigate! Investigate!)]

This was the scene at a press conference held yesterday morning (July 8) in the lobby of the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency to condemn the botched and concealed investigation.

[Mother of the late Lee Chae-won: My bright and kind child, who dreamed of becoming an emergency medical technician to save lives, lost her life in such a horrific way on a day she was living her ordinary life.]

The mother of the late Lee Chae-won raised her voice against the recently uncovered allegations of poor police investigation and destruction of evidence, labeling them a dereliction of duty and a deception.

[Mother of the late Lee Chae-won: I want to ask the police officers: If Chae-won had been your own daughter that day, would you have investigated it this way? The police we trusted were not on our side, but on the side of the murderer.]

Describing this as the final plea of a parent who lost a child, the family called for institutional reform regarding the so-called family privilege, which exempts family members from punishment for destroying evidence.

[Mother of the late Lee Chae-won: If the police, who have betrayed the public's trust, can also be exempted from responsibility through family privilege, how can the public believe in justice before the law?]

Civic groups participating in the press conference also criticized Jang Yun-gi, the lead investigator of the case, who denied the charges of evidence destruction and claimed there was no intent.

[Press conference participant: This shameless behavior of trying to evade responsibility by hiding behind the mask of incompetence is a cruel form of secondary victimization that drives a nail into the hearts of the bereaved family who lost their daughter overnight.]

The bereaved family delivered a letter of protest to the Commissioner of the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency, demanding a strict investigation into the investigative team's destruction of evidence and allegations of collusion with the suspect's father, who is an active-duty police officer.

(Reported by Kim Jong-won, KBC | Video by Kim Ho-jin | Produced by SBS Digital News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.