- Man in his 60s whose case was falsely closed eventually found dead, woman in her 30s placed on Interpol red notice
- Case closed with a single click by working-level staff… Exposing blind spots in computer network without supervisor approval
While a missing citizen was found dead, the police computer network recorded a false entry stating "safety verified." This was the fatal result of the investigating officer arbitrarily and improperly closing the case. On the 24th, the Jeju Provincial Police Agency requested an arrest warrant for Police Officer A (35) of the Jeju Western Police Station on charges of dereliction of duty and falsification and uttering of public electronic records.
Officer A falsely concluded the disappearance case of Mr. B, a man in his 60s reported missing on July 2. Although he inputted into the system that the individual's safety was verified, Mr. B was found cold and dead on the 22nd of this month, 51 days after going missing. Circumstances pointing to document tampering by Officer A were also revealed in another case. In the case of Jang Mi-ran (37), who went missing in May, records were fabricated as if her safety had been verified even though there were no call logs. He also arbitrarily deleted Jang's records from the missing persons profiling system without proper dismissal procedures. Currently, Jang's whereabouts remain unknown, and considering the urgency of the situation, the police requested an Interpol yellow notice for Jang from the National Police Agency the previous day.
At the background of these successive manipulations lies a structural defect in the police investigation system. The existing missing persons profiling system was structured so that when a working-level officer entered a dismissal reason such as death, the case could be closed independently without going through a supervisor's approval. The loophole in the computer network, lacking a manager verification procedure, led to the worst possible outcome. Amid the growing fallout, the National Police Agency urgently revised the system only on the 21st to require final approval from managers such as team leaders and division heads.
Officer A protested his emergency arrest and filed a request for a review of the lawfulness of the arrest with the court. The Jeju District Court held a hearing at 11 a.m. on the 24th to determine the legality of the arrest and whether to release him. Police are expanding the scope of their investigation to other missing persons cases handled by Officer A since March of last year.