Reported “contact made” without verifying missing persons ... Jeju officer’s dismissal approved, but command responsibility remains

【Financial News Jeju = Jeong Yong-bok, reporter】 A disciplinary committee has approved the dismissal—the most severe penalty—for a Jeju police officer who closed a case after falsely reporting that contact had been made without verifying whether the missing person was alive or dead.
On the 9th, Jeju Western Police Station said its disciplinary committee had met the previous day and voted to dismiss Senior Police Officer Bu, a former member of the Missing Persons Investigation Team. Bu, who is in custody, submitted his comments in writing, while relatives of the deceased missing persons also attended the committee meeting and gave their views.
Dismissal is the most severe disciplinary measure that can be imposed on a police officer. However, the committee’s decision must be distinguished from the actual penalty taking effect. The penalty takes effect only after the result is notified to the person concerned, and Bu may request an appeal review if he contests the decision.
Bu was indicted while in custody on charges of closing cases after falsely claiming to have contacted and confirmed the safety of a woman in her 30s surnamed Jang, reported missing on May 15, and a man in his 60s surnamed Park, reported missing on July 2, despite not contacting either of them directly.
The investigation found that the false reports had made their way into the police’s internal computer systems and official documents.
Bu is accused of entering false information into the 112 Report Processing System and the Missing Children and Others Profiling System, and of preparing and submitting internal reports that falsely stated he had contacted the missing persons.
The Missing Persons Profiling System is a computerized system that manages missing people’s personal information, the progress of searches, and whether they have been found or their cases closed. If a case is closed without confirming the missing person’s safety, the search and monitoring may stop, making accurate closure reasons and supervisory checks important.

However, the people involved in the falsely closed missing-person cases were eventually found dead. Park was found on August 22 and Jang on the 24th of the same month, 52 and 104 days after they went missing, respectively.
The problem was that the improper case handling was not limited to the two cases. A review by the Jeju Police Agency of 298 missing-person cases handled by Bu from March last year through July this year uncovered 25 additional suspected or confirmed cases of improper handling beyond the two already known.
Ten of those cases involved closing the files as if the missing people’s whereabouts had been established without verifying their safety. Police confirmed that the missing people in those cases were safe.
In the remaining 15 cases, the missing people’s whereabouts had been confirmed, but false reasons for clearing the cases were entered into the computer system. Investigators found that records in some cases were deleted after false reasons such as “death in a traffic accident” or “unnatural death” were entered. Including the two original criminal cases, there were 27 cases of improper handling in all.
The prosecutors’ investigation also revealed that internal police controls had failed to function properly. On September 18, the Jeju District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Bu while in custody on charges including fabricating and using public electronic records, dereliction of duty, and preparing and using false official documents. It pointed to a lack of supervision by superiors and perfunctory joint reviews of missing-person cases.
The National Police Agency had earlier placed four people in the chain of command—including former and current chiefs of Jeju Western Police Station, the chief of its Criminal Affairs Division, and the head of the Missing Persons Investigation Team—on standby and launched an internal affairs probe. A separate investigation into allegations of dereliction of duty involving relevant superiors and fellow officers has also been underway.
The key remaining questions in determining accountability are why the organization failed to catch the officer’s false reports and what checks supervisors carried out as cases were closed.

The failures in managing missing-person investigations uncovered in Jeju prompted a renewed review of case-closure procedures across the national police force. The National Police Agency decided to reexamine about 310,000 missing-person cases closed over the past three years by November. It ordered police to begin reinvestigations immediately and report to provincial and metropolitan police agencies whenever false closure or other improper handling is suspected.
The practice of closing cases after checking a missing person’s safety remotely, such as by phone, will also be prohibited in principle. If the officer in charge cannot meet the person in person, procedures will be strengthened to require confirmation of their safety with help from the police station with jurisdiction over their location or a relevant agency.
The supervisory approval process will also be strengthened. The chief of the Criminal Affairs Division will review whether the missing person was met in person, how their identity was verified, and any materials demonstrating that their safety was secured before approving the case closure.
Police also plan to improve the Missing Persons Investigation Team’s overnight and holiday staffing arrangements to reduce gaps in oversight that can arise when one person handles and closes a case alone.
Bu’s first criminal trial is scheduled to take place at Jeju District Court on the 14th.
The disciplinary process over the officer’s misconduct has reached a significant stage with the vote to dismiss him. But responsibility within the chain of command for failing to prevent the false closures, as well as the results of the nationwide review of 310,000 cases, remains to be addressed. The challenge for police after this incident is to make real changes to the system that allowed cases to be closed without confirming missing persons’ safety.
[email protected] Jeong Yong-bok Reporter