Former Gwangsan Police Leadership Forwarded to Prosecutors Over 'Jang Yoon-gi Misconduct'… 'No Evidence of National Office of Investigation Involvement'

The Special Investigation Unit of the National Police Agency has forwarded a former superintendent of the Gwangsan Police Station in Gwangju, surnamed Kim, and a former head of the detective division, surnamed Park, to prosecutors without detention.

They are accused of exercising undue influence to apply a charge of simple murder instead of rape-murder while directing the initial investigation into the Jang Yoon-gi case.

The Special Investigation Unit stated that in May, Senior Superintendent Kim received a report that Jang Yoon-gi had committed a sex crime against a Vietnamese woman before murdering the late Lee Chae-won, and ordered, "Do not connect the two cases."

At the time, police leadership had ordered a strict response to relationship-based sex crimes following the stalking murder in Namyangju, and investigators found that Kim was concerned it would be exposed that—contrary to protocol—there was no "follow-up callback" the day after the sex crime report and no comprehensive joint investigation.

[Oh Dong-wook / Head of the Special Investigation Unit, National Office of Investigation, Korean National Police Agency: Concerned about social criticism and disadvantages such as disciplinary action because a murder occurred due to repeated poor responses, they tried to cut off the connection….]

The Special Investigation Unit stated it confirmed circumstances in which the head of the detective division and the investigation team at Gwangsan Police Station conspired to tamper with various investigative records so that circumstances pointing to a motive of rape would not be revealed.

Previously, prosecutors indicted the leadership of the National Office of Investigation, including former Head Park Sung-ju, viewing them as the apex of the undue directives.

[Shin Tae-hoon / Deputy Prosecutor General, Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office (on September 2): The Head of the National Office of Investigation said, 'Let us keep the rape quiet, we are not intentionally hiding it, but is it really something we should bring up first?'….]

The Special Investigation Unit concluded that the leadership of the Gwangsan Police Station instead ignored the police leadership's directives to uncover the truth.

[Oh Dong-wook / Head of the Special Investigation Unit, National Office of Investigation, Korean National Police Agency: (We determined that) the investigative guidance from the National Office of Investigation and the Gwangju Provincial Police Agency was carried out to discover the substantial truth and protect victims, rather than to minimize or conceal sexual motives.]

The Special Investigation Unit stated that no circumstances of collusion were found with Jang Yoon-gi's father, an active-duty police officer who initially sparked suspicions of a botched investigation.

Former Superintendent Park, who was the head of the detective division at Gwangsan Police Station at the time, told SBS, "I will clear the charges at the prosecution stage," while Senior Superintendent Kim could not be reached.

Reported by An Huijae | Video by Jang Chang-gun (KBC) | Video Editing by Shin Seeun | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.