Body Presumed to Be Missing Jang Mi-ran Found After Three Months, Opening a New Phase in the False Case Closure Scandal

[Financial News, Jeju=Reporter Jung Yong-bok] The body believed to be that of Jang Mi-ran, 37, who had not been accounted for for more than three months after the police falsely closed the case and halted the initial search, was found in a cycad forest in Suwon-ri, Hallim-eup, Jeju City. Police are expected to begin forensic work to confirm her identity and cause of death. An arrest warrant was requested the same day for the officer in charge, who is suspected of falsely closing the missing-person case, marking a new phase in which investigators are simultaneously examining the cause of the disappearance and police accountability.
According to the Jeju Provincial Police Agency on the 24th, a police officer taking part in a joint search for Jang in the Jeju City area of Hallim-eup found the body believed to be hers at around 10:46 a.m.
Police have cordoned off the scene and will recover the body while confirming the identity through forensic analysis. They will also investigate the time and cause of death.
Jang left her home in Hallim-eup, Jeju City, at around 10:15 p.m. on May 12 and then lost contact. A missing-person report was filed three days later, on the 15th.
At the time, police checked the area around Hallim Port based on Jang's mobile phone location data, but the search was halted after about 2 hours and 30 minutes.
Investigators found that A, a senior constable from the Jeju Western Police Station who handled the case, closed it after telling the reporter that he had contacted Jang and that she was safe. Later call records showed no evidence of an actual call between Jang and A.
A is also suspected of removing Jang's case from the police internal missing-person management system.

The initial closure of the case also caused much of the key evidence needed to trace Jang's movements to disappear. The footage from 118 cameras in the Hallim-eup area where she vanished, including 111 security cameras and seven traffic data collection cameras, was automatically deleted after the 30-day retention period expired.
The footage was still available when the first report was filed, but police did not request access from Jeju Province until August 19. By then, more than three months had passed since the initial report, and the footage had already been deleted.
The case has since expanded into a broader problem involving the police missing-person management system after it was confirmed that the same officer had closed another disappearance case in a similar manner.
A is also suspected of telling the family that he had contacted a missing man in his 60s, whose report was filed on July 2, and then closing the case. After the family reported it again, police launched a search, and the man was found dead on the 22nd, 51 days after the initial report.
Police arrested A in an emergency on the 22nd on charges of dereliction of duty, falsifying and using false public electronic records, and obstruction of official duties by deception. They then requested an arrest warrant on the 24th, citing concerns over evidence destruction and flight.
Police are reviewing the cases A handled while assigned to missing-person investigations and are also checking police stations nationwide for similar false case closures.
The discovery of the body believed to be Jang's has marked a major turning point in the police investigation. If the identity is confirmed as Jang's, investigators will have to determine her route after disappearing, the time and cause of death, and why the chain of command and supervision failed to catch the false closure. The facts will need to be established through the forensic results and the ongoing investigation.
[email protected] Jung Yong-bok Reporter