[Anchor]

Police have arrested the lead investigator from the Gwangju Gwangsan Police Station, who was in charge of the case involving Jang Yoon-gi, a high school girl murder suspect, on charges of destroying evidence. The internal inspection, which was launched following our exclusive report that Jang's father—a police officer—had destroyed evidence related to his son's sex crimes, has now been officially converted into a criminal investigation into misconduct by internal staff.

We begin with a report from Kim su-yun.

[Reporter]

The Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency announced today, July 6, that it has arrested Inspector A, the lead investigator at the Gwangju Gwangsan Police Station who was handling the case of Jang Yoon-gi, the suspect in the murder of a high school girl.

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 arrest as 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's father, a police official, had destroyed a real doll, a piece of evidence related to his son's sex crimes.

On July 2, the following day, the National Police Agency launched an inspection into the entire investigation of Jang Yoon-gi, citing the gravity of the matter. With the arrest of the lead investigator after evidence of misconduct was confirmed, the inspection has been converted into a formal investigation just four days later.

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

Previous SBS reports revealed that a police officer from the Gwangsan station's investigation team had facilitated a phone call between Jang Yoon-gi, who was in custody, and his father just before the father disposed of two real dolls found in 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 connection from working at a different precinct...) Please stop now.]

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)