Police Ignored Awareness of False Closure of Missing Person Report… President Rebukes “Command Line Responsibility”

Additional evidence of inadequate police response has been confirmed in connection with the case of Ms. Jang Mi-ran, a woman in her 60s found as a skeleton in Jeju. It was revealed that Ms. Jang's family filed missing person reports three times, but the police ignored them.

Investigation revealed that the police missing persons team was already aware that Police Sergeant A had falsely closed Ms. Jang Mi-ran's case. This internal awareness suggests serious problems in the police's handling of missing person cases.

It is argued that if police abuse of authority, dereliction of duty, bribery, or other crimes are suspected during the process where police investigate and either send or do not send cases to prosecutors, the prosecution should have the power to investigate police officials.

It is pointed out that the current power to request supplementary investigations granted to the prosecution has clear limitations in resolving problems that may arise during police investigations. Calls are growing for the prosecution to have direct intervention authority over police misconduct or inadequate investigations.

President Lee Jae-myung today at a cabinet meeting criticized the police's lax discipline and irresponsible public safety, referring to suspicions of a missing person case cover-up in Jeju. The President emphasized that not only frontline officers but also the command line must be held accountable.

He also instructed the Prime Minister's Office to lead the effort to establish a police reform body through public consultation. This is interpreted as a demonstration of his will to pursue overall reform of the police organization following this incident.

Politicians such as Assembly Members Kim Yong-min, Choo Mi-ae, and Park Beom-kye, who argued for stripping all investigative powers from the prosecution, are now facing questions of accountability for this situation. Criticism continues regarding the gap between the justification for introducing such a system and the real-world side effects that occur.

Some argue that caution should be exercised against the conservative media or vested interests using such small, exceptional cases to shake the entire principle. However, at the same time, it is emphasized that a crucial role of the National Assembly is to carefully review and prepare complementary measures to ensure that genuinely unjust cases do not occur.