[Anchor]

With additional allegations emerging day after day, the National Police Agency has belatedly announced that it will expand and reorganize a special investigation team to uncover the truth. It appears the decision was made in haste after the initial plan to form a dedicated team under the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency sparked concerns over potential bias and protecting their own.

Son Gijun reports.

[Reporter]

Initially, the police announced this morning, July 6, while disclosing the emergency arrest of the team leader in charge of the Jang Yun-gi case at Gwangsan Police Station, that they would form a 22-member dedicated investigation team led by the head of the investigation division at the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency to uncover the truth regarding suspicions surrounding the investigation into Jang Yun-gi, the perpetrator of the Gwangju high school girl murder case.

They added that the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency would conduct a thorough investigation into the entire investigative process, beyond just the allegations reported by the media, to ensure no suspicions remain.

However, at approximately 4:10 p.m. today, the National Office of Investigation under the National Police Agency released a revised statement.

They announced that they would expand the dedicated investigation team formed at the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency into a special investigation team for the Gwangsan Police Station and take direct control of the probe.

They stated that they have appointed the National Police Agency’s Investigation and Human Rights Officer as the head of the special investigation team and will deploy an additional team leader and six investigators from the Serious Crime Investigation Division at the National Police Agency headquarters.

They repeatedly emphasized, "We will exclude the command line of the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency to ensure an independent investigation, and only the final results will be reported to the Chief of the National Office of Investigation."

It appears they determined that if the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency—which received reports on the inadequate initial investigation by the Gwangsan Police Station and oversaw the case—were to conduct the fact-finding investigation, the results would inevitably face controversy.

In particular, the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency was also a subject of the inspection led by the National Police Agency.

[Interview: Oh Yoon-sung / Professor of Police Administration, Soonchunhyang University]
"Since the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency itself is in a position where it holds responsibility for the supervision and management of the investigation into the Jang Yun-gi case, I believe it is a very necessary measure to have the investigation conducted by a higher-level authority."

The investigative personnel from the National Police Agency are scheduled to travel to Gwangju tomorrow to begin the fact-finding process in earnest.

There are concerns that time is running short to proceed with follow-up steps, such as requesting an arrest warrant, as the detention period for the emergency-arrested Police Inspector A expires the morning after tomorrow.

(Video Editing: Kim Jong-mi, Design: Kim Han-gil)