Park's party leader criticizes police for mishandling missing person case

Cheon Ha-ram, the acting leader of South Korea's Reform Party, has strongly criticized the Jeju Provincial Police Agency's handling of a missing person case, asserting that the alleged falsification of the report cannot be excused as mere individual misconduct. Visiting the agency on August 28 to meet with Commissioner Ko Pyeong-gi, Cheon emphasized the urgent need to reform the police investigation system and bolster external oversight mechanisms.

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The commissioner stated that this is not a matter to be dismissed as individual misconduct, and that the problem of the system needs to be improved.

Cheon highlighted the severity of the alleged misconduct, pointing out that the system was manipulated to mark a missing person as a traffic accident fatality, effectively removing the case from active records. He questioned the frequency of such incidents and was informed by Commissioner Ko that an investigation into the officer's motives, including phone forensics, is ongoing and results will be announced next week.

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Not just at the level of 'contact was made' or 'does not wish to be contacted,' but they took the absurd action of entering it into the missing person system as a traffic accident death and removing it from the list.

"If a supervisor simply approves a case without verifying it, there is no way to prevent the false closure or concealment of missing person reports," Cheon stated, advocating for a system that requires photographic evidence or other concrete proof, such as call records or video calls, when submitting cases for approval. He also expressed concern over what he perceives as a weakening of external controls on the police, particularly following changes to prosecutorial powers.

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If a supervisor simply approves a case without verifying it, there is no way to prevent the false closure or concealment of missing person reports.

Cheon stressed that while internal police controls are necessary, they are insufficient on their own. He argued for robust external checks and balances to ensure accountability. The Reform Party plans to pursue legislative changes to maintain the prosecutor's role in reviewing all police-submitted cases and to reinstate supplementary investigation powers for prosecutors, which he believes are crucial for preventing mishandled, insufficient, or suppressed investigations.

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Police effectively have almost no external oversight now. The prosecutor's supplementary investigation authority has disappeared, and soon the prosecutor's office itself will disappear.