[Anchor]

Police have arrested the investigation team leader at the Gwangju Gwangsan Police Station, who was in charge of the case involving Jang Yoon-gi, a high school girl's murderer, on charges of destroying evidence. This follows an exclusive report by SBS revealing that Jang's father, a police officer, had destroyed evidence related to his son's sex crimes, prompting the police to escalate their internal inspection into a full-scale criminal investigation into misconduct.

Reporter Kim su-yun has the story.

[Reporter]

The Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency announced that it arrested Inspector A, the investigation team leader at the Gwangju Gwangsan Police Station who was handling the case of Jang Yoon-gi, the "high school girl's murderer," this morning (July 6).

The police explained that they had confirmed some circumstances regarding the destruction of evidence during the fact-finding process, and even took the unusual step of disclosing the exact time of the emergency arrest: 7:11 a.m.

The police emphasized that they plan to conduct a rigorous investigation into all related personnel, including the team leader and other team members.

The case first came to light on July 1 through an exclusive SBS report, which revealed that Jang Yoon-gi's father, a police official, had disposed of "real dolls" that served as evidence of his son's sex crimes.

The following day, on July 2, the National Police Agency launched an inspection into the entire investigation of Jang Yoon-gi, citing the gravity of the matter. The inspection was converted into a criminal investigation just four days later with the arrest of the team leader, whose misconduct was confirmed.

As the police intensify their investigation, attention is focused on whether allegations of collusion between the investigation team and Jang's father, Inspector Jang, will be uncovered.

This is because previous SBS reports revealed that a police officer from the Gwangju Gwangsan Police Station's investigation team had facilitated a phone call between Jang Yoon-gi, who was in custody, and his father just before the father discarded the two real dolls from his son's studio apartment.

[Official from Gwangju Gwangsan Police Station: It is not a situation where I can give interviews or answer questions. (Regarding whether there was a professional connection from working at a different precinct...) Please stop. That is enough.]

Hong Seok-gi, the newly appointed head of the National Office of Investigation, stated during his first regular press conference today that he had "nothing to say," but signaled a high-intensity investigation by adding, "I have ordered a strict investigation. We will stake our reputation on it."

(Video reporting: Jung Gyeong-mun | Video editing: Shin Se-eun | Graphics: Lee So-jeong)