To save himself additional work, a South Korean police officer closed around twenty cases of disappearances on the tourist island of Jeju, including those of two people later found dead, the authorities announced on Tuesday.
Four bodies were found in August in Jeju, a popular destination, including that of a 37-year-old woman, Jang Mi-ran, discovered three months after her partner reported her missing in May. The affair caused shock waves on this island which attracts more than 13 million visitors each year and which Koreans choose for their honeymoon.
The scandal prompted South Korean President Lee Jae Myung to order an investigation into the handling of the Jang Mi-ran disappearance case and called on his government to work on police reform.
The police officer was arrested
The police officer, nicknamed Bu and arrested last week, also closed the case of the disappearance of a man in his sixties. He is accused of covering up Jang Mi-ran’s affair by recording her death in police files as a death “due to a road accident.” He also allegedly told his family that he had come into contact with her, that she was safe and sound and did not wish to be found.
The police officer acted in this way “mainly motivated by professional negligence due to work overload and fatigue associated with his greater responsibilities,” national police investigation chief Jung Tae-woon told reporters on Tuesday. “The evasive and irresponsible attitude of the suspect would have contributed to the offense,” he added.
Police were unable to determine the cause of Jang Mi-ran’s death due to the advanced state of decomposition of her body. She conducted a comprehensive review of some 300 disappearance cases handled by Bu during her sixteen months on the disappearances team.
According to his findings, Bu closed 25 other cases without investigating the whereabouts of the missing people or deleting their cases after declaring them dead. The 25 people concerned were finally found safe and sound, authorities said.
