[Anchor]

It has belatedly been revealed that a senior police officer destroyed the smartphone of his high school son, who was under investigation for allegedly attempting to illegally film a school teacher. This case came to light as an additional finding during a comprehensive nationwide review to check for similar incidents following allegations of investigative misconduct in the Jang Yoon-ki case.

Reporter An Huijae has the story.


[Reporter]

This is a post uploaded to the police internal network on the night of July 25.

The post stated that the writer's high school son was caught attempting illegal filming targeting a female teacher, and that, utterly shocked by the news that his innocent child could commit such an act, he smashed the phone.

According to SBS reporting, the author of the post was identified as Inspector A from a police box in the Jeonju area of Jeollabuk-do.

This effectively amounts to a senior active-duty police officer confessing to concealing a smartphone that could serve as key evidence in an illegal filming crime. Following a complaint filed by the victimized female teacher, the police forwarded Inspector A's son to the prosecution at the end of June, and recently booked Inspector A himself on charges of destroying evidence.

It is reported that Inspector A's case was uncovered during a comprehensive inspection of cases involving police families, a measure rolled out by police leadership following SBS reports exposing investigative misconduct in the Jang Yoon-ki case, which also involved a police officer father.

The Jeonbuk Provincial Police Agency launched a coercive investigation last week, which included executing a search and seizure warrant at Inspector A's home.

A police official explained that while punishment of direct lineal blood relatives is barred under special provisions for family members, criminal booking is still possible, and they are currently in the process of verifying suspicions of investigative interference, including the destruction of evidence.

While Inspector A claimed on the internal network that comparing his case to the Jang Yoon-ki case is unfair and unjustified, fellow police officers have turned a cold shoulder, leaving comments such as, "The victimized teacher is also someone's child," and, "Do not adjust your hat under a plum tree" (meaning avoid even the appearance of wrongdoing).

(Video Reported by Choi Dae-woong | Video Edited by Choi Hye-ran | Design by Park Tae-young and Choi Ha-neul)