"Claimed They Talked," But No Records Found... Jeju Police to Conduct Full Investigation Into Missing Persons Cases

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Thirteen days into the investigation regarding allegations that a missing person case in Jeju was falsely closed, the head of the Jeju Provincial Police Agency apologized to the bereaved family and the public. He stated that the responsible police officer has failed to present evidence of having spoken with the deceased, identified by the surname Chang, adding that it is incomprehensible why such an action—serving no practical purpose—was carried out.

Reporter Je Hui-won has the details.

[Reporter]

Police are intensively questioning Police Inspector Bu, who was arrested on the 25th on charges including dereliction of duty, regarding the reason for falsely closing the missing person case.

Determining why Inspector Bu committed such an act, given that there was no distinct practical gain to be had from closing the case falsely, remains one of the core issues in this investigation.

Police stated that while Inspector Bu consistently claimed to have spoken directly with the missing person, autopsy results estimate that the person had already died before the missing person report was filed.

No call records between Inspector Bu and the missing person were found on their mobile phones either.

In response, Inspector Bu denied the charges, stating that he "does not remember what communication method was used to speak with the missing person." Police stated that they checked all communication devices, but have found no clues so far to support Inspector Bu's claims.

Inspector Bu's actions are also difficult to comprehend, as he claimed to have confirmed Chang's safety through a phone call, yet closed the case by entering it as a "traffic accident fatality" into the missing person profiling system.

It was also revealed that after a re-report on Chang's disappearance was filed, Inspector Bu checked the location of Chang's mobile phone a total of four times.

Despite having personally entered that Chang died in a traffic accident, he tracked the location from 5:16 PM on June 20 to 2:20 PM the following day.

Police plan to deploy profilers to clearly determine Inspector Bu's motives and other details.

Thirteen days after launching the investigation into the police officer in charge of the missing person case, the head of the Jeju Provincial Police Agency bowed his head to the bereaved family and the public.

[Ko Pyong-ki / Chief of Jeju Provincial Police Agency: I bow my head and offer my deepest apologies to the residents of the province and the citizens who must have felt great disappointment and anxiety.]

Chief Ko further announced that a comprehensive reinvestigation will be conducted into all missing person cases within the province.

(Photo courtesy of JIBS / Video by Ko Seung-hwan | Video editing by Ahn Yeo-jin | Design by Seo Hyun-jung and Kim Min-young)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.