Separated 'Murder and Sex Crimes'... Message Securely Obtained Pointing to "Headquarters Director's Direct Order"

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However, a different claim emerged from the Gwangsan Police Station. It was reported that the Gwangsan Police Station made multiple requests to conduct a combined investigation, but the National Office of Investigation under the Korean National Police Agency rejected them. Furthermore, circumstances were captured indicating that an official from the National Office of Investigation directed the separate investigations, stating it was "under the orders of the Headquarters Director."

Reporting from reporter Son Gijun.

<기자>

Two days before the murder of the late Lee Chae-won, Jang Yoon-gi committed a sex crime against a woman in her 20s who is a foreign national.

However, the police separated the two cases, with the Detective Division of the Gwangsan Police Station investigating the murder case and the Women and Youth Division investigating the sex crime, forwarding them to the prosecution sequentially.

Regarding criticisms that this was an intentional separation of the investigations, the legal counsel for then-Gwangsan Police Station Detective Division Chief, Senior Superintendent Park, claimed that the National Office of Investigation blocked a combined investigation.

[Choi In-gyu / Legal counsel for Senior Superintendent Park (yesterday): Instructions came down from the National Office of Investigation to the effect of 'do not combine them' on all three occasions, which is why we (the Detective Division) only investigated the general case.]

Because the combined investigation fell through due to instructions from the National Office of Investigation, they had no choice but to apply general murder charges instead of rape-murder to Jang Yoon-gi.

Yesterday (the 21st), the court dismissed the arrest warrant for Senior Superintendent Park, stating that it was "difficult to recognize grounds and justification" for his arrest.

This was interpreted as indicating a need to verify the decision-making process of higher-level authorities.

In fact, the police special investigation team ascertained that following the occurrence of the Jang Yoon-gi case, an official from the National Office of Investigation sent a message to the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency mentioning the separate investigations and stating it was "under the orders of the Headquarters Director."

Here, the "Headquarters Director" refers to former National Office of Investigation Director Park Sung-ju, who retired last month.

Today, the special investigation team summoned the head of the violent crimes unit at the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency who received the message to investigate the circumstances and meaning of receiving it.

Regarding this matter, former Director Park explained in a phone call with SBS, "If there was anything special in the reported contents or if I had given direct instructions, I would remember, but I have no particular recollection."

Meanwhile, the special investigation team stated that although they mentioned in the interim investigation results announcement on the 15th that Jang Yoon-gi 'might have known the late Lee Chae-won unilaterally,' that turned out not to be true based on the investigation results.

(Photo courtesy of: Joo Bum | Video by: Ahn Yeo-jin | Design by: Kang Yoon-jung, Choi Jae-young)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.