Prosecutors search Jeju police over forged missing case files
Prosecutors launched raids on three major police facilities on September 8 as part of an expanding investigation into the fraudulent closure of missing persons cases, Yonhap reports.
The Jeju District Prosecutors’ Office targeted the National Police Agency in Seoul, alongside the Jeju Provincial Police Agency and Jeju Western Police Station. Investigators seized physical documents and digital files from multiple departments, including detective divisions, the missing persons team and the local station chief’s office.
The raids aim to scrutinise the internal police database and to determine whether senior officers failed to properly supervise their subordinates.
This legal action follows the September 1 arrest and transfer to prosecutors of a local police corporal, identified in official reports only as Bu. The officer currently faces serious criminal charges, including dereliction of duty and forging official electronic records.
Investigators say the officer used special computer access to fake the closure of missing persons cases. He broke the rules by inventing false causes of death, such as car crashes, and deleted system records to hide his actions.
Specific initial charges accuse him of unlawfully closing the active search for a missing woman in her 30s on May 15 and similarly dismissing the case of a missing man in his 60s on July 2.
Broader systemic failures under investigation
Prosecutors are now checking the police computer system to find out why it failed to catch the fake entries. They are also investigating senior officers to see if they should be held responsible for missing the problem.
Following the initial allegations against the arrested officer, the Jeju Provincial Police Agency conducted a comprehensive internal audit of 298 missing persons cases the corporal handled between March last year and July this year.
This extensive review uncovered 25 additional instances of highly inappropriate conduct. The newly identified infractions include more fabricated case closures and deliberately deleted digital records, all of which are currently subject to a separate ongoing police investigation.
