Separate Investigations for Same Suspect Jang Yoon-gi: Authorities Probe Potential Intentional Splitting

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Jang Yoon-gi is also accused of sexually assaulting a foreign woman just before murdering a high school girl. However, the Gwangsan Police Station investigated the two crimes committed by Jang separately at the time. The police special investigation team is now examining whether the Gwangsan Police leadership, fearing disciplinary action, intentionally separated the cases to obscure any connection to the related crimes.

Report by An Huijae.

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On May 3, two days before Jang Yoon-gi murdered the high school girl, a report was filed with 112 by a Vietnamese woman, identified as A.

She reported that Jang, who had worked part-time with her, appeared to be stalking her.

[Police Official (SBS 'Unanswered Questions'): 'A Korean man seems to be following me.' (We) sent a warning message via text because (Jang Yoon-gi) did not answer the phone.]

The following day, A filed a complaint alleging she had been sexually assaulted by Jang. The case, initially filed at the Chilgok Police Station in North Gyeongsang Province, was transferred to the Gwangsan Police Station in Gwangju after Jang was arrested.

However, the case involving A was sent to the prosecution separately, about a week after the high school girl murder case was referred.

The Gwangsan Police Station assigned the case involving A to the Women and Youth Affairs Division rather than the Detective Division, which was in charge of the Jang Yoon-gi murder investigation, effectively splitting the cases.

The police special investigation team is verifying whether there was an ulterior motive behind this decision-making process.

While separate assignment is the standard procedure, experts note that in major violent crimes, integrated investigations are the norm, making the decision not to assign A's case to the Detective Division highly unusual.

It is reported that the former head of the Gwangsan Police investigation team, who was referred to the prosecution under arrest yesterday (July 15), stated during recent questioning that "they intended to investigate A's case together, but it was separated for unknown reasons."

[Kim Young-sik / Professor of Police Administration at Soonchunhyang University: Since it is the same suspect, it is rational to merge the cases and handle them in one department. It is either a lapse in judgment or there was another motive.]

The special investigation team has requested a pre-trial detention warrant for the former head of the Detective Division, Superintendent Park, who was the superior of the investigation team leader at the time.

Allegations suggest that despite internal opinions from the investigation team, Park instructed them to apply the charge of general murder, which carries a lighter sentence than rape-murder, to Jang Yoon-gi. Park reportedly denies the charges, claiming he was not the one who led the decision to apply the murder charge.

(Video reporting: Joo Yong-jin | Video editing: Choi Hye-ran)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.