Lee: 'I feel devastated... Police must draw up their own reform plan'

[Financial News] President Lee Jae-myung said on the 24th that he felt "very devastated" over the discovery of a body believed to be that of a long-term missing woman in Jeju, and instructed police to conduct a thorough investigation and prepare their own reform plan.
At a briefing that day, Cheong Wa Dae senior spokesperson Kang Yoo-jung said, "After hearing the news that a body believed to be that of a missing person in Jeju had been found, the President expressed deep sorrow and conveyed his condolences."
Kang added, "He ordered a thorough fact-finding process across the entire police investigation, along with a review of the case closure and the overall command and supervision system." She said he also instructed police to prepare their own reform plan, including institutional fixes and fundamental measures for change.
Earlier that day, the Jeju Provincial Police Agency said it had found a body believed to be that of the woman, who went missing in May, at a palm tree farm in Hallim-eup, Jeju-si. It had been 104 days since her disappearance. Although the body had decomposed significantly, police found clothing matching what she was wearing at the time she went missing, along with a gold bracelet and a mobile phone. Police are now working to confirm her identity and the cause of death.
The controversy grew after signs emerged that the officer who first received the missing-person report had falsely closed the case. The officer, identified as Police Sergeant A, is accused of lying to the woman’s boyfriend in May by claiming he had made contact with her, then closing the case about 2 hours and 30 minutes after the report was filed and deleting the missing-person records. The search resumed after the woman’s family filed another report last month.
Police Sergeant A is also accused of falsely closing the missing-person report of another man in his 60s. That man was found dead on the 22nd after his family filed a renewed report. Police are investigating whether similar false closures occurred in other cases handled by the officer.
The court accepted A’s request for a review of the legality of his arrest and ordered his release that day, while prosecutors separately sought an arrest warrant. A pretrial detention hearing is scheduled for the 25th. Cheong Wa Dae said it plans to use this case as an opportunity to review not only whether individual officers engaged in misconduct, but also the standards for closing missing-person cases and the overall command and supervision system.
[email protected] Sung Seok-woo Reporter