Sujeong Lee: "A young woman going out late at night and hanging herself from a palm tree? Even a cow would laugh"

[Financial News] Sujeong Lee, a professor of criminal psychology at Kyonggi University (KGU), criticized the police for presuming that the cause of death of Jang Mi-ran, 37, who had been missing for a long time in Jeju, was hanging, calling it "something even a cow would laugh at."
On the 25th, Lee shared a news article on her Facebook page quoting Jaesung Yoo, acting commissioner general of the Korean National Police Agency, as saying that he had been briefed by the Jeju Provincial Police Agency chief that Jang's body was believed to have been found hanging.
Lee also wrote, "A young woman going out late at night and hanging herself from a palm tree? Even a cow would laugh." In another post, she stressed, "The issue is whether there are signs of homicide. Do not hastily claim there is no possibility of a crime victim."
Earlier, police said they found a body at 10:46 a.m. on the 24th in a palm grove in Hallim-eup, Jeju City, and that an autopsy confirmed it was Jang.
However, because decomposition had progressed significantly and fingerprints were no longer intact, police collected DNA and are conducting an urgent analysis. A police official said, "The autopsy found no unusual fractures or other abnormalities," and added that they still believe the possibility of homicide is low. Investigators are examining all possibilities to determine the exact cause of death.
Jang's boyfriend, however, claimed, "She was not in a situation where she would have taken her own life." A local resident living near the scene also raised suspicions, saying that, based on the characteristics of the palm trees, hanging there was effectively impossible.

A local resident in Jeju, identified only as A, posted an explanation of the characteristics of the Canary Island date palm and argued that "because it does not have branches like an ordinary tree, it is almost impossible to hang a rope from it." He also questioned whether Jang could have tied the rope to the tree alone, saying, "If you are transplanting a tree, you need equipment, and you tie the rope to the equipment to pull it. Even tying the rope itself is extremely difficult for one man to do alone."
Pyo Chang-won, head of the Forensic Criminology Institute, also appeared on CBS FM's "Park Sung-tae's News Show" the previous day and said of Jang's death, "Under the principles of profiling and forensic investigation, it is impossible at this stage to make any assumption or conclusion." He drew a line, saying that the currently available information should not be used to determine whether it was homicide or to confirm the cause of death.
Profiler Bae Sang-hoon also said on YTN Radio's "Jang Sung-cheol's News Myeongdang" that, regarding the cause of Jang's death, "The only thing confirmed so far is that she died from suffocation in the neck area. Nothing else has been revealed yet," adding that "there could be another third cause of death."
He added, "The problem is that the evidence that should remain on the body has been lost, so there will definitely be difficulties in reconstructing it," and noted that "there is also a possibility that the cause of death may remain undetermined."
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