Police Raid Gwangju Leadership in 'Jang Yoon-gi Investigation' Case; Probing Potential Higher-Level Interference

[Anchor]

The police, currently investigating allegations of misconduct in the case of Jang Yoon-gi, who murdered a high school girl in Gwangju, have launched a search and seizure operation targeting the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency's leadership. The investigation is accelerating to determine whether there was any higher-level interference in the alleged lenient investigation of Jang, whose father is a serving police officer.

Reporter An Huijae has the story.

[Reporter]

On this weekend morning, a special police investigation team arrived at the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency without prior notice.

They conducted searches at seven locations, including the offices of Gwangju Police Commissioner Kim Young-geun and former and current members of the leadership who were in charge of the investigation into Jang Yoon-gi's murder of the high school student.

The core of the investigation is to determine whether there was higher-level interference in the decision not to apply charges of rape and murder, despite internal dissent within the investigation team during the probe into Jang last May. Following the prosecution, the police have now set their sights directly on the chain of command.

[Police Special Investigation Team Officer: (To what extent do you believe the Gwangju police leadership was aware?) ......]

Previously, the prosecution launched a compulsory investigation on July 10, booking a police superintendent surnamed Kim, the former chief of the Gwangju Gwangsan Police Station, and the head of the detective division on charges including leaking official secrets and aiding in the destruction of evidence.

The suspicion is that the superintendent may have attempted to protect Jang after learning that he was from a police family. This is based on testimonies that immediately after Jang's crime became known, the superintendent instructed the investigation team leader to "go see Jang Yoon-gi's father" and personally visited the scene near the site of the search and seizure of Jang's residence to oversee the operation.

It is reported that the superintendent, like the recently arrested investigation team leader, denies the allegations. The police have seized the mobile phones of the superintendent and the Gwangju police leadership, and have begun analyzing secured items such as work journals and meeting documents.

The police, who questioned the investigation team leader and investigators suspected of a "lenient investigation" in succession on July 10, are also considering an additional summons for Jang's father, a police inspector surnamed Jang.

Inspector Jang, who voluntarily appeared for his second police questioning on July 10, reportedly denied the allegations of evidence destruction, claiming that he "only tidied up his son's belongings because it seemed inevitable that he would be imprisoned for a long time."

The police, having announced the expansion of the existing investigation team into a special investigation unit, reiterated their commitment to a thorough investigation without leaving any suspicions unaddressed.

(Video Editing: So Ji-hye, Video Reporting: Kim Jong-won KBC, Design: Kim Ye-ji and Jang Chae-woo)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.