[Anchor]

A 37-year-old woman named Chang Mi-ran went missing in Jeju last May. While her family has been desperately searching for her by publicizing her photos, it has been revealed that the police officer who received the missing person report three months ago closed the case after filing a false report claiming he had made contact with her.

JIBS reporter Jung Yong-gi has the details.

[Reporter]

A woman wearing a hooded zip-up and long pants leaves her accommodation.

This is the last known footage of 30-something Chang Mi-ran, who went missing last May.

Since then, she has been out of contact for over three months, with no traces of daily life such as financial transactions being found.

Her family even took the step of revealing her face to find her.

[Family member of missing Chang Mi-ran: After tracking her location, the police told us that "the missing person does not want to talk" and "asked not to be found." That was when the reports stopped.]

However, allegations emerged that a detective from the missing persons investigation team at the Jeju Seobu Police Station falsely reported that he had "gotten in touch" with Chang last May.

This came to light because police investigations have found no call logs between the detective in charge and Chang to date.

Chang, who lost contact after May 13, was reported missing two days later, but the police closed the case just three hours later.

With no signs of life for the following two months, suspicions over the false closure arose after second and third missing person reports were filed in mid-July.

Police have launched a public search around Hallim Port, where Chang's last movements were traced.

Thirty police officers were deployed, and missing person alert text messages were sent out.

Authorities are expanding the investigation while keeping the possibility of criminal harm open.

[Boyfriend of missing Chang Mi-ran: I am so angry, and my hands were shaking earlier so I could not do anything. I keep walking around Hallim Port and the coastline because I thought if she had fallen into the sea, her shoes might have washed ashore.]

It was confirmed that the detective handling the case at the time is an officer who was recently suspended from duty after being caught entering a women's restroom at a police station.

The police have booked the detective on charges of dereliction of duty and are investigating the overall handling of the missing person case.

(Video by Kang Myung-chul / JIBS)

Jung Yong-gi, JIBS