"Testimony Emerged"... Special Investigation Team Raids National Office of Investigation over Jang Yoon-gi Case

The police have launched a search and seizure operation at the National Office of Investigation (NOI) to verify the reporting and command structure during the investigation of the Jang Yoon-gi case.

The Special Investigation Team for the Truth of the Jang Yoon-gi Case, under the National Police Agency, has been executing search and seizure warrants at offices including the Violent Crime Investigation Division of the National Office of Investigation since 7:30 a.m. today (July 21).

The special investigation team explained that the search and seizure is intended to verify the overall reporting and command details related to the investigation of the Jang Yoon-gi case.

This operation comes amid testimonies from police officers who were involved in the investigation at the time, claiming that the National Office of Investigation had ordered them to separate the murder case from past sexual assault cases.

According to the testimonies, while there was a plan to consolidate and investigate a sexual assault case that had been filed with police in another region, the case was assigned to the Women and Youth Affairs Division following instructions from the National Office of Investigation.

The special investigation team has determined that there was an intentional, inadequate investigation, such as failing to secure key evidence and ignoring major circumstances in the Jang Yoon-gi case, and is currently investigating whether the command line at the time was involved.

Jang Yoon-gi was arrested and indicted last May on charges of murdering Lee Chae-won, a second-year high school student, in Gwangju (charges including rape and murder under the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment, etc. of Sexual Crimes).

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.