"National Office of Investigation Ordered Separate Investigations"... Arrest Warrant for Former Head of Detective Division Dismissed

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The investigative blade of prosecutors and police, who are jointly investigating allegations of shoddy police work in the "Jang Yoon-ki case," is pointing toward the police leadership. The arrest warrant for the former head of the detective division at the Gwangju Gwangsan Police Station, designated as a key figure, was dismissed yesterday (the 21st).

Reporter Bae Seong-jae has the details.

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The Gwangju District Court dismissed the arrest warrant for Senior Superintendent Park, the former head of the detective division at the Gwangsan Police Station, yesterday, stating that "it is difficult to recognize the necessity for detention based on the materials clarified so far."

Senior Superintendent Park is accused of conducting a shoddy investigation by forwarding Jang Yoon-ki's case on charges of "simple murder" instead of "murder with the intent to commit rape."

He is also accused of failing to fulfill his duties as a mid-level investigative supervisor, such as handling a previous sex crime case involving a Vietnamese woman separately rather than combining it for a joint investigation.

Prior to his pre-arrest interrogation of a suspect yesterday, Senior Superintendent Park claimed that it was actually the National Office of Investigation under the Korean National Police Agency that blocked the combined investigation.

[Choi In-gyu / Legal counsel for Senior Superintendent Park: "Directives came down from the National Office of Investigation instructing us not to combine them on all three occasions, which is why we only handled the general case."]

Prosecutors and police, who simultaneously raided the National Office of Investigation yesterday, are summoning and questioning Chief Choi of the violent crimes division at the National Office of Investigation and Chief Kim of the violent crimes division at the Gwangju Provincial Police Agency as reference witnesses today.

It is reportedly known that investigators have identified a message sent by Chief Choi of the violent crimes division at the National Office of Investigation to Chief Kim of the violent crimes division at the Gwangju Provincial Police Agency, directing them to conduct separate investigations under the instruction of "the head of the office."

Park Sung-joo, who served as the head of the National Office of Investigation until his retirement late last month, told SBS in a phone call, "If there had been anything special or a direct instruction among the reported contents, I might remember it, but I have no particular recollection."

An official from the violent crime investigation division at the National Office of Investigation also stated, "We merely judged that there was insufficient time to forward the stalking and murder cases all at once, and we never instructed the application of general murder charges to cover up or diminish the case."

(Video Editing: Kim Yoon-sung)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.