False Case Closure Followed by 'Disabled' Designation Outrage: "A Double Blow to the Family"

The police have sparked controversy by issuing a missing person alert for Jang Mi-ran, whose whereabouts have remained unknown for over three months amid suspicions of a "false case closure," falsely designating her as having a disability when she does not.

While the police explained that the action was unavoidable due to urgency, the family is outraged as the missing person alert was issued only after the family posted about it on social media.

Currently, personal details of the missing person Jang Mi-ran posted on the "Safe Dream" website, a police support center for children, women, and people with disabilities under the Korean National Police Agency, indicate that she has a "disability."

On August 19, the police issued a missing person alert containing Jang's personal details and subsequently uploaded the relevant information to the Safe Dream website.

However, Jang is not registered as a person with a disability.

The police stated that they marked Jang as "disabled" in the personal details for the alert based on a statement from her boyfriend that "Jang suffered from depression."

The police explained that according to the requirements for issuing alerts, they cannot issue an alert for an adult female unless she has dementia, a disability, or is a child under the age of 18, which is why they specified her as disabled.

The National Police Agency elaborated, "As the search for the missing person became prolonged, we inevitably sought cooperation from Jang's family and issued the alert as a missing person with a disability."

However, the family of Jang Mi-ran is furious.

This is because the search for the missing person was delayed for months due to suspicions that Police Inspector A of the missing persons investigation team at the Jeju Seobu Police Station falsely closed the case, and the missing person alert was only issued after Jang's cousin posted a self-made missing person flyer on their personal social media account.

In an interview with a media outlet, Jang's family vented their anger, saying, "If the police had registered the missing person as disabled and urgently issued an alert before the botched initial investigation became an issue, we could understand. But taking such measures belatedly after drawing nationwide public outrage is a double blow to the family."

Reported by Jung Da-eun | Video by Kim Na-on | Graphics by Yook Do-hyun | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.