"Contact Made," Same Method 40 Days Later... Why Did They Try to Cover It Up?

[Anchor]

Not only the late Jang Mi-ran, but a man in his 60s whose missing person case was also falsely closed by Police Officer Bu has been found dead. Officer Bu entered "whereabouts confirmed" into the internal system and closed the case. Police are paying close attention to the striking similarities in how both cases were handled.

This report is by reporter An Huijae.

[Reporter]

The 60-year-old man, surnamed A, vanished on June 28, and a missing person report was filed with the police four days later.

The officer in charge was Police Officer Bu of the Jeju Western Police Station, who had also handled the case of the late Jang Mi-ran.

Family members who visited the police station in person asked for help, stating that Mr. A had disappeared after leaving words about "business failure and heavy debts," but the case was closed in about five and a half hours.

Officer Bu processed the cancellation of the missing person status, claiming that "Mr. A refused to meet with police officers."

[Bereaved Family Member of Mr. A (August 23): "We were told that he said, 'I don't want to contact my family, and if you give them my number, I will report it as a violation of the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection.'..."]

Officer Bu entered the false code "whereabouts confirmed" into the internal computer network and listed two phone numbers claiming they were used to speak with Mr. A. However, an investigation revealed that one of them had no relation to Mr. A at all.

There was no record of any calls between Officer Bu and Mr. A.

Mr. A was found dead on August 22, just one day after the case was re-reported.

[Bereaved Family Member of Mr. A (August 23): "What good is finding someone after they are dead? What good is it now!"]

Police are focusing on Officer Bu's methods, which were repeated just about 40 days after the false closure of Jang's case.

Both cases are carbon copies, involving lies that "contact was made" and entering fake reasons for canceling the missing person status. This is largely believed to have exploited the loophole in the police's "Missing Person Profiling System," where simply entering a cancellation code such as death, whereabouts confirmed, or voluntary return excludes the case from further management, making it possible to bury cases.

Police, who have launched a full-scale investigation into all cases handled by Officer Bu, stated that no other issues have been found so far besides the cases of Jang and Mr. A. However, as the number of targets reaches 298, the possibility of uncovering additional unlawful cases remains.

(Video Editing: Kim Jong-mi, Design: Lim Chan-hyeok, Park 천웅)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.