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Police cordon off the area after a body presumed to be Jang Mi-ran, who went missing several months ago, was found in Suwon-ri, Hallim-eup, Jeju City, on the 24th. / Yonhap News

The Korean National Police Agency launched an inspection into the false closure of missing person cases in Jeju.

The Inspection Division of the Korean National Police Agency announced on the 24th, "We launched an inspection to verify the facts regarding the entire case handling, command, management, and supervision system in relation to the false closure of missing person cases in Jeju."

The police plan to investigate the circumstances under which Senior Police Constable A, belonging to Jeju Seobu Police Station, closed cases without confirming the actual whereabouts or safety of missing persons while handling missing person cases. It is also expected that the inspection will cover whether reporting and commanding to higher-ups were conducted properly and whether there were any managerial or supervisory problems during the case closure process.

Senior Constable A faces allegations of falsely processing cases under the premise of having established contact with the missing persons before closing the cases, including that of Jang Mi-ran. The police conducted an emergency arrest of Senior Constable A, but on the 24th, the Jeju District Court accepted the request for a review of the arrest's legality, determining that the requirement of "urgency" under the Criminal Procedure Act was not met. As a result, Senior Constable A was released.

In the missing person cases where allegations of false closure were raised, missing individuals were found dead one after another. Following the discovery of the body of a man in his 60s on the 22nd, a body presumed to be Jang was found in Hallim-eup, Jeju City, on the 24th. The police are confirming the exact identity and cause of death.

The police are not ruling out the possibility that there may be additional cases of false closure. Yoo Jae-sung, Acting Commissioner General of the Korean National Police Agency, stated at a plenary meeting of the National Assembly Public Administration and Security Committee on that day that Senior Constable Boo handled a total of 298 missing person cases, and announced a plan for a full-scale inspection. It has not yet been confirmed whether there are additional falsely closed cases among the 298.

Acting Commissioner General Yoo said, "While swiftly conducting the investigation, we will clearly determine through a comprehensive inspection whether there are additional cases of this kind."

                                                                                                         Seol So-young