[Anchor]

The prosecution has launched its first compulsory investigation into the police team that handled the case of Jang Yoon-gi, a high school girl murder suspect. Prosecutors intend to investigate allegations of evidence tampering by the police team and the leakage of investigation information to Jang's father, who is a serving police officer.

Reporter Shin Yong-il reports.

[Reporter]

The prosecution has begun a compulsory investigation into the police team responsible for the case of high school girl murder suspect Jang Yoon-gi.

Since this morning, July 7, the Gwangju District Prosecutors Office has been conducting raids on the Gwangju Gwangsan Police Station and other locations on charges including the leakage of official secrets and destruction of evidence.

The prosecution has booked the police officers from the Gwangsan Police Station who were in charge of the case and has dispatched investigators to the police station and the officers' residences to carry out the raids.

Under current law, the prosecution has the authority to directly initiate investigations into cases of official misconduct by police officers.

Previously, it was revealed that shortly after the high school girl murder occurred in May, the police investigation team provided the home address and door passcode of Jang Yoon-gi to his father, Inspector A, a serving police officer in the Gwangju area. It was later determined that Inspector A personally disposed of a sex doll, a key piece of evidence in the rape and murder case, from Jang's residence.

The police investigation team was also found to have shared classified investigation details with Inspector A, including the fact that they planned to apply for an arrest warrant for Jang and the contents of that warrant.

Furthermore, the police investigation team had secured a DNA analysis report from the National Forensic Service but did not forward it to the prosecution. They only handed it over two months after the incident, following recent controversy over the police's poor handling of the case.

However, it is reported that the prosecution has not booked Inspector A, Jang's father, as the special provision for relatives applies to the charge of destruction of evidence, exempting him from criminal punishment.

Given the gravity of the case, the prosecution reportedly decided to conduct its own investigation into the matter, separate from the probe being carried out by the police.

(Video reporting: Jung Gyeong-mun, Video editing: Shin Se-eun)