Jeju police say, "Too much to keep track of, it was burdensome"... Full account of how two missing-person cases were falsely closed

[Financial News Jeju=Reporter Jung Yong-bok] A serving police officer in Jeju, accused of falsely closing two missing-person reports, is believed to have committed the crime to avoid the burden of continuing to manage the cases and handing them over to the next shift. Police concluded that fatigue from mounting workload and responsibility, along with evasive responses and negligence, were the main factors behind the false closures.
On the morning of the 1st, the Jeju Provincial Police Agency held an official briefing on the investigation results at its headquarters regarding the case involving A, a 34-year-old officer from Jeju Western Police Station, who is accused of falsely closing missing-person reports. The agency disclosed the circumstances, motive, results of a full review of 298 cases, and follow-up measures.
The Anti-Corruption and Economic Crime Investigation Unit said it plans to send A to the Jeju District Prosecutors' Office in custody around 1 p.m. the same day on charges of dereliction of duty, falsification and use of false public electronic records, and obstruction of official duties by deceit.
According to police, A said during questioning that he had judged the situation too lightly because the missing persons were adults, and that he falsely closed the cases because leaving them open would mean more work to keep track of and the burden of passing them on to the next officer.
Police also brought in a profiler to analyze the motive. They concluded that the main background was an attempt to avoid work amid accumulated workload and fatigue from increased responsibility. Investigators also said evasive coping and an irresponsible attitude toward work appear to have influenced the offense.
A is accused of receiving a missing-person report for a woman in her 30s, identified by her surname Jang, at 6:43 p.m. on May 15, then telling the reporter that contact had been made even though he had not actually spoken with her, and closing the case about two and a half hours later.

Investigators found that he told the reporter that Jang was safe and did not want to meet police officers. He also marked her as a "traffic accident casualty" in the missing-person profiling system and removed her from the list of monitored cases.
Jang was found dead on Aug. 24, 104 days after the missing-person report, at a palm farm in Hallim-eup, Jeju City.
A similar method was repeated in a missing-person case involving a man in his 60s reported on July 2. A is accused of closing the case by saying contact had been made even though he had not actually spoken with the man, and of entering him as "located" in the missing-person profiling system. The man was found dead on Aug. 22, 51 days after the report, in Gujwa-eup, Jeju City.
At the beginning of the investigation, A denied the charges or refused to make a statement, claiming that he had actually spoken with the missing persons. Police later presented evidence from analyses of his personal and work phones, the missing persons' phones, and office phones showing that no calls had taken place, after which he admitted that he had not actually spoken with them.
The briefing also disclosed the results of a full review of 298 missing-person cases handled by A from March 10 last year, when he began working in the missing-person team at Jeju Western Police Station, through July 23 this year.
The 298 cases account for about 28.4% of all adult missing-person cases closed in Jeju during the same period. However, the total includes cases in which the missing-person team handled the case together and A only carried out the final administrative closure.

Police found that 235 of the 298 cases were properly registered and closed in the missing-person profiling system, while 63 were either never entered into the system or were deleted after registration.
So far, no additional false-closure cases serious enough for criminal charges have been identified beyond the two already known. However, the review of the 63 cases is not yet complete. Police said they will continue to examine the reasons for the unregistered or deleted entries and whether the case handling was appropriate even after the referral to prosecutors. If new criminal suspicions emerge, they plan to work with prosecutors on additional investigations.
The fact that the officer's false records were not caught during the internal approval process is also under separate inspection. Police are reviewing how the former and current chiefs of Jeju Western Police Station, as well as the head of the criminal division, verified the officer's reports and approved the closure of the cases.
Once A is formally referred to prosecutors, the focus of the investigation will shift to the Jeju District Prosecutors' Office. The office has already formed a dedicated team led by the chief of Criminal Division 1. Based on the police investigation record, it plans to examine how the false closures occurred, the motive, the possibility of additional cases, and the responsibility of those involved.
This official briefing is significant not only because it addressed A's personal motive, but also because it revealed the results of the review of 298 cases and exposed problems in the police's internal controls. No additional false-closure cases have been found so far, but the reasons behind the 63 unregistered or deleted cases and the inspection of the command line remain unresolved, so further verification of responsibility is expected to continue.


[email protected] Reporter Jung Yong-bok Reporter