'Jeju False Closure of Missing Persons' Officer Handled 298 Reports... Full Investigation Underway

Officer A Served on Missing Persons Team for 1 Year and 5 Months
Two Cases Falsely Closed While Alone on Night Duty

Following the discovery of two deceased individuals, including Jang Miran (age 37), who had been falsely declared as a closed missing person case by Jeju police, as well as a man in his 60s, suspicions are being raised that there may be more victims affected by these false closures. This is based on findings that the officer in charge processed and closed 298 missing person reports alone over a period of one year and five months.

According to Yonhap News Agency and Jeju Metropolitan Police Agency on August 24, aside from the cases involving Jang and the man in his 60s, a total of 298 missing person reports handled by Officer A were processed and closed by the officer in question. Initially, Jeju police stated that Officer A had processed and closed about 200 missing person cases. However, during a plenary session of the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee held that day, Yoo Jaesung, the acting commissioner of the National Police Agency, officially declared that there were 298 such cases in total.

Jeju Police Officer A, who was urgently arrested the previous day on suspicion of falsely closing a missing person case, is leaving the detention center at Jeju Dongbu Police Station on the afternoon of the 23rd and moving to a transfer vehicle. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

The police are focusing their investigation on whether Officer A falsely reassured the people who reported the missing cases and then closed the cases deceitfully. Authorities are also attempting to contact both the missing persons and the individuals who filed the reports in order to clarify the circumstances for each case.

Officer A worked with the missing persons team for about one year and five months, until being suspended from duty on August 11 due to allegations of sexual misconduct within the police station. In both the recently uncovered case of Jang and the man in his 60s—who was found as a skeleton on August 22—the reports were received during Officer A's night shifts.

When a missing person report comes in during a night duty shift, a separate night duty log, in addition to the police missing persons management system, must be completed and reported to superiors. This mechanism is meant to prevent a single officer, who staffs the night shift alone, from handling cases arbitrarily. However, if the night duty officer writes a false log, there is no way to prevent or stop this from happening.

An arrest warrant was requested for Officer A on charges of falsely closing missing person cases by submitting false reports about contacting the missing persons or arbitrarily deleting records from the internal network. The Jeju Metropolitan Police Agency urgently arrested Officer A on August 22 on suspicion of dereliction of duty, fabrication and use of official electronic documents, and obstruction of official business by fraudulent means. On August 24, citing concerns about destruction of evidence and risk of flight, the police agency applied for a formal arrest warrant.

However, Officer A was released on August 24 after requesting a detention review, claiming the arrest was unjust. Regarding this, the Jeju District Court explained, "The requirements for an emergency arrest under the Criminal Procedure Act were not met. An emergency case refers to a situation where there is no time to obtain an arrest warrant, such as when a suspect is discovered by chance, but in this case, the suspect's whereabouts were continuously known, so the urgency requirement cannot be considered fulfilled."

Meanwhile, the number of missing person reports involving adults age 18 or older in Jeju Province was 944 in 2023, 814 in 2024, and 786 in 2025. As of the end of last month, 370 more cases had been reported this year, bringing the total number of adult missing person cases reported since 2023 to 2,914. This is more than twice the number of missing persons under age 18 during the same period, which stood at 1,341. Currently, 15 adults reported missing have not yet been found, which is five times the number of unresolved cases involving children under 18 (3).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.