Jeju prosecutors raid police agencies over false disappearance reports

The Jeju District Prosecutors' Office is conducting a multi-day search and seizure operation targeting the Jeju Provincial Police Agency and the Jeju Seobu Police Station. The investigation focuses on the fraudulent closure of missing persons reports.

Prosecutors are seeking to verify the police missing persons profiling system's processes and have seized materials including online messenger conversations. Forensic experts have been deployed to conduct digital investigations.

The probe follows allegations that a police officer, identified as Sergeant A, used administrator mode to enter false reasons, such as ‘traffic accident death,’ to delete records from the missing persons management list. This action allegedly allowed for the fraudulent closure of reports involving a woman in her 30s and a man in his 60s.

A comprehensive investigation by the Jeju Provincial Police Agency into 298 cases handled by Sergeant A between March and July last year has already identified 25 additional instances of improper conduct or record deletion. Investigators are now looking into whether higher-ranking officials were involved in or aware of these actions.