"Keep the Sexual Assault Case Under Wraps": What the National Office of Investigation Leadership's Messages Reveal (Full Video)

새창열기 [Anchor]

Regarding allegations that the Jang Yoon-ki case was covered up, prosecutors have indicted four police leadership figures, including former National Office of Investigation (NOI) head Park Sung-joo. Prosecutors concluded that Park, fearing public backlash over botched initial response efforts, ordered the sexual assault case to be handled quietly and investigated separately from the murder case.

First, we have a report from reporter Kim Su-yun.

[Reporter]

The Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office announced that it has indicted former National Office of Investigation head Park Sung-joo without detention on charges of abuse of power.

He is accused of improperly ordering separate investigations into the sexual stalking crime against a foreign woman and the murder of a high school girl committed by Jang Yoon-ki.

Prosecutors stated that two months prior to the Jang Yoon-ki incident, in March, public criticism against the police intensified following incidents such as the Namyangju stalking murder. Park was concerned that if it came to light that Jang's stalking and sexual assault crimes led to the high school girl's murder, criticism over poor police response would become even harsher.

[Shin Tae-hoon / Deputy Chief Prosecutor, Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office: "Let's handle the rape quietly," and "It's not that we are intentionally hiding it, but is it really necessary for us to bring it up first?"—instructing that the stalking/rape case and the murder case be investigated separately by different investigative departments....]

According to the investigation, NOI officials also followed Park's instructions, turning down a request from the Gwangsan Police Station's investigative team to merge the investigations.

Prosecutors also indicted three other NOI officials without detention, including the acting head of the Violent Crime Investigation Division, along with former chief Park.

Prosecutors stated that due to Park's improper intervention in the investigation, the Gwangsan police team transferred Jang to prosecutors on mere murder charges without properly uncovering the motives for the murder and the sexual crime objectives.

In response, former chief Park stated, "These were entirely normal and routine operational instructions," adding, "I can neither acknowledge nor accept such unreasonable logic that frames this as ordering separate investigations to evade public criticism or intentionally hindering necessary investigations."

(Camera: Jung Kyung-moon | Video Editing: Yoo Mi-ra | Design: Lee Ga-jin)

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[Anchor]

The Gwangsan Police Station investigative team requested twice that Jang Yoon-ki's murder and stalking sexual assault cases be merged and investigated together, but the NOI leadership ignored the requests, a prosecution investigation revealed. To support this, prosecutors also released text messages exchanged by the NOI leadership at the time.

Next is reporter Shin Yong-il.

[Reporter]

These are the phone calls and text messages exchanged by the National Office of Investigation leadership during the investigation of the Jang Yoon-ki case, which prosecutors released while announcing their investigation results today (September 2).

May 7, two days after Jang Yoon-ki murdered the high school student.

The head of the sexual violence division at the NOI sends a text message to their immediate supervisor pointing out that the Gwangsan Police Station's initial response to the earlier stalking report involving a foreign woman was inadequate.

The official expressed regret over failing to promptly take Jang Yoon-ki into custody and conveyed their opinion to subordinates that the appropriateness of the initial response should be reviewed.

The following day, the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency also reported to the NOI that it would "jointly investigate the stalking sexual crime and the murder."

However, then-NOI chief Park Sung-joo ordered separate investigations, stating, "Handle the rape case quietly" and "Make sure it doesn't get out," and the head of the violent crimes division at the NOI relayed this policy to the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency.

Although the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency repeatedly stated its stance in favor of a joint investigation—noting that the leadership of the Gwangsan Police Station shared the same view—the NOI violent crimes division head reiterated the order for separate investigations, citing the head's directive. Consequently, the Gwangju police instructed the Gwangsan police to investigate the two cases separately.

The prosecution's conclusion is that the NOI leadership ultimately abused their investigative command authority twice to block the investigative team from conducting a joint investigation.

[Shin Tae-hoon / Deputy Chief Prosecutor, Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office: "They abused their investigative command authority for the purpose of covering up police faults, avoiding public criticism, and dodging reprimands, thereby obstructing an investigation that was proceeding legitimately."]

However, the police special task force conducting a separate investigation into this case views the Gwangwan Police Station leadership in Gwangju, rather than the NOI, as the entity that gave improper instructions to the Jang Yoon-ki investigative team, meaning the investigative results of the prosecution and the police are expected to conflict.

(Camera: Jung Kyung-moon | Video Editing: Park Ji-in | Design: Kim Ye-ji)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.