Prosecutors Raid Jeju Police in False Missing-Person Case, Targeting Senior Officials

South Korean prosecutors launched a forced investigation of police just one week after taking over the case involving the alleged false closure of a missing-person report in Jeju.

The Jeju District Prosecutors' Office said on Sept. 8 that it searched the national police agency, the criminal affairs division of the Jeju Provincial Police Agency, and the chief's office, criminal affairs division, missing-person team and duty room at Jeju Western Police Station. The searches lasted more than nine hours.

Prosecutors seized materials to examine and verify the police missing-person system and its procedures. At the western station, investigators are targeting senior officers in the chain of command, supervision and approval linked to 34-year-old Police Sergeant Major Boo, who has been arrested over the alleged false closure of a missing-person report.

Investigators are examining whether superiors approved the process in which Boo entered a false reason into the missing-person profiling system and closed the case. The Jeju provincial agency was also searched because it conducted a full review of the 297 missing-person cases Boo had closed. Prosecutors reportedly seized internal police online messenger exchanges related to the case.

This is the first time senior police leadership has come under investigation over the allegations surrounding the false closure of missing-person reports.