No Call Records, Yet the Case Was 'Closed'... Jeju Missing Man Case Also Passed Senior Approval

[Financial News, Jeju = Reporter Jung Yong-bok] The case of a falsely closed missing-person report in Jeju Province has exposed serious weaknesses in the police's internal control system. The case involving a woman in her 30s, identified by her surname Jang, was closed without review or approval from a supervisor, while a separate case involving a man in his 60s was found to have passed senior approval in the 112 system despite false call details being entered.
The National Police Agency has decided to strengthen the approval process for closing missing-person cases, but the latest findings show that even cases that went through senior approval were not necessarily screened for false closures. That has raised the need for a system that verifies objective evidence showing the missing person's safety.
According to materials submitted to the Jeju Provincial Police Agency, the National Police Agency, and the National Assembly on the 29th, Police Officer B, 34, of the Jeju Western Police Station has been arrested and is under investigation on charges of dereliction of duty, falsifying and using false public electronic records, and obstruction of official duties by deceit.
In a recent police investigation, Officer B admitted to some of the charges, saying in effect that he had not actually spoken with Jang, 37, who went missing in May.
He had previously maintained that he had been in contact with Jang, but his statement changed after police presented objective evidence such as telecom records. Police have not disclosed exactly which charges he admitted, citing the possibility that his statements may change again.
In Jang's case, the gap between the information police secured after receiving the report and the actual steps taken became clear.
Jang left a long-term stay accommodation 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, at 6:43 p.m. on the 15th.
According to materials submitted to the National Assembly, Officer B checked Jang's mobile phone location data seven times through the 112 system between 7:08 p.m. and 8:55 p.m. on the day the report was filed.
Even so, the case was closed at around 9:16 p.m. on the grounds that Jang had been contacted, was safe, and did not want his family to know his location. That was about two and a half hours after the report was received.
However, telecom records showed no call history between Officer B and Jang.

The police manual for missing-person cases says the case should be closed only after the missing person is met in person and their safety is confirmed. If face-to-face contact is refused, safety must be verified through reliable means such as a video call or confirmation through family members or care facilities. A sergeant or team leader then decides whether to close the case or continue the investigation based on any possible criminal connection.
In Jang's case, that supervisory review and approval did not take place.
The computer processing steps are also under investigation. Officer B is believed to have used a code related to a traffic accident victim when removing Jang from the missing-person profiling system. In other words, he told the reporter that Jang was alive and did not want contact, while using a death-related code in the police internal system.
A different problem emerged in the missing-person case involving a man in his 60s in July. According to materials that independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon received from the Jeju Provincial Police Agency, the case was reported to 112 at 6:02 p.m. on July 2.
At 11:22 p.m., it was marked as 'released' under Officer B's account in the missing-person profiling system. Sixteen minutes later, at 11:38 p.m., the case was finally closed in the 112 system after senior approval. It took about five and a half hours from the initial report.
At the time, Officer B is understood to have checked another contact number, spoken with the missing person, and entered into the system that the person strongly refused to meet police and said he would return home later.
But police later confirmed that the phone number Officer B said he had called was not the number used by the man. No actual call record between Officer B and the missing person was found either. In the missing-person profiling system, the man was marked as 'located.'
The fact that senior approval was recorded in the case involving the man in his 60s is significant because it contradicts the explanation previously given by police leadership.
Police leadership, including Acting Commissioner General Jaesung Yoo, had explained that Officer B had closed the case on his own and that no senior officer, including the team leader or division chief, had approved it.
However, the 112 system records submitted by the Jeju Provincial Police Agency to the National Assembly confirmed that senior approval had been given.

In the end, the two cases exposed weaknesses in internal controls in different ways. In Jang's case, the required managerial review was not carried out. In the case involving the man in his 60s, false information was not filtered out even though senior approval had been given.
The National Police Agency's prevention measures are now being tested as well. The agency has decided to ban, in principle, non-face-to-face closures of missing-person cases based only on phone calls or text messages.
If direct contact with the missing person is difficult, police will seek face-to-face confirmation of safety with the help of officers or related agencies in the jurisdiction where the person is actually believed to be located.
Approval at the closure stage will also be strengthened. When the officer in charge requests that a case be released, the manager will be required to check whether the missing person was met in person, how identity was verified, and whether there is objective evidence supporting the safety confirmation. The system will be revised accordingly.
However, the latest case involving the man in his 60s shows that even if managerial approval exists, a merely formal review may not be enough to prevent an improper closure if the information entered by the officer is false.
That is why future reforms will need to focus less on how many approval steps are required and more on ensuring that managers can directly verify the evidence for safety confirmation, such as actual call records, face-to-face contact, mobile phone data, CCTV footage, and telecom records.
The scope of the investigation is also expanding. Officer B is believed to have handled a total of 298 missing-person reports since taking on the missing-person duty in March last year. The Jeju Provincial Police Agency has deployed more than 20 officers to recheck whether the whereabouts and safety of the people involved in these cases were actually confirmed, by calling them or visiting them in person.
So far, the police have officially confirmed two false-closure cases: Jang's case and the case involving the man in his 60s.
The National Police Agency is also reexamining about 310,000 missing-person cases closed nationwide over the past three years through November. It is selecting cases with a high likelihood of false or improper closure, including those closed remotely, and checking again whether the missing persons were actually safe and how the cases were handled.
An inspection of the police command line is also under way. At the time of Jang's case, the former chief of the Jeju Western Police Station, the current chief, the head of the criminal division, and the missing-person team leader were all placed on standby. The National Police Agency is checking command and supervisory responsibility, including how far the case was reported and what actions managers took.

The fallout has spread beyond missing-person work and into broader concerns about discipline within the national police force. In response to the Jeju false-closure case and a series of other recent duty-related misconduct cases, the National Police Agency issued a special alert on public service discipline for police nationwide from the 28th through September 6.
During the special alert period, team dinners are banned and officers are urged to refrain from drinking. Nonessential events are also to be postponed or canceled.
The National Police Agency and provincial police agencies will hold at least one countermeasure meeting during the alert period, while frontline police stations and mobile units will hold daily meetings led by the station chief. Intensive inspections will also be conducted, and if any duty violations are found, responsibility will be pursued not only for the individuals involved but also for their managers.
In effect, the suspicion that a Jeju police officer improperly handled a missing-person case has expanded into a nationwide review of the police's missing-person investigation system, internal controls, and public service discipline.
The investigation into the circumstances of Jang's death is also continuing. Jang was found dead on the 24th, 104 days after the first report was filed, at a palm farm in Hallim-eup, Jeju City.

Based on the autopsy and forensic findings, police are investigating the possibility that the death was caused by hanging, but they have not reached a definitive conclusion because the body was badly decomposed and partially skeletonized. Police say there is no clear evidence so far supporting homicide.
Police carried out a detailed forensic examination at the scene on the 27th after questions were raised about the structure and strength of the palm tree.
However, no direct causal link has been established between the police's false closure of the missing-person reports and the deaths of the two missing persons. The exact time and cause of each death, and what response might have been possible if the missing-person investigations had proceeded properly, are matters that still need to be determined separately through the investigation.
The motive behind Officer B's false closure has also not yet been confirmed. Police have assigned profilers and are analyzing mobile phones and internal police computer records to determine why the two cases were falsely processed and how the records were manipulated.
Police plan to send Officer B to prosecutors next week and release the investigation results and confirmed details of the offense in an official briefing.


[email protected] Jung Yong-bok Reporter