Police Officer Who Falsely Closed Jang Miran’s Missing Person Case Received Police Commissioner’s Commendation for “Finding Missing Person” a Month Later

10 Commendations Since 2020

Previous Disciplinary Action for Domestic Violence

Investigated for Falsifying Other Missing Person Cases and Illegal Filming

An active-duty police officer, who was arrested on charges of falsely closing the missing person case of Ms. Jang Miran, was found to have received a commendation from the Commissioner General of the National Police Agency for discovering another missing person about a month after handling the incident.

Jeju police officer who completed the warrant review for 'false closure of missing person cases.' Yonhap News Agency

According to Representative Park Sumin of the People Power Party on August 26, Sergeant A of Jeju Seobu Police Station received a commendation from the Commissioner General on June 26 for “outstanding service in finding a missing senior citizen with dementia.” This was about a month after he falsely closed the missing person report regarding Ms. Jang.

It was found that Sergeant A had received a total of 10 commendations since 2020, including a police station chief’s commendation last September for quickly locating an attempted suicide victim, as well as a year-end commendation from the Jeju Provincial Police Agency in December of the same year.

On the other hand, Sergeant A was previously subjected to an internal audit and disciplinary committee due to a domestic violence issue. More recently, he is under investigation for allegedly secretly entering and filming inside a women’s restroom. As a result, there are calls from some quarters to re-examine the circumstances under which he received his awards and the merits supporting them.

Sergeant A is accused of falsely closing the case just about two hours and thirty minutes after receiving the report on May 15 stating, “Ms. Jang is out of contact after leaving the accommodation.”

At the time, Sergeant A explained to Ms. Jang’s boyfriend, who was the person who reported her missing, that he had “confirmed Ms. Jang’s safety by contacting her and was told not to disclose the location,” but investigations found that he had not actually contacted Ms. Jang and had even deleted relevant records.

Sergeant A is also accused of falsely closing a missing person case involving a man in his 60s, which was reported on July 2 last month, using a similar method to the case involving Ms. Jang.

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