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Jeju Police Chief Apologizes After Officer Falsely Closed Missing Person Cases

3 sources across 2 countries · South Korea · Hong Kong · 1 of them is linked to a state

Who reported this

  • Yonhap South Korea · Centre · State-affiliated · Cooperative; statutory national agency with state subsidy
  • The Korea Herald South Korea · Centre-right · Herald Corporation (Yeongpoong Group)
  • South China Morning Post Hong Kong · Centre-right · Alibaba Group

What the colours mean

  • Left
  • Centre-left
  • Centre
  • Centre-right
  • Right
  • A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.

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The chief of the Jeju Provincial Police Agency, Ko Pyeong-ki, issued a public apology on Thursday following the discovery of two deceased individuals whose missing person cases had been mishandled. A police officer surnamed Bu is accused of prematurely closing the cases by falsely claiming he had spoken to the missing individuals. The victims include a 37 year old woman, Jang Mi-ran, who disappeared in May and was found dead on Monday, and a man in his 60s whose body was found on Saturday.

Commissioner Ko stated that he feels a profound sense of responsibility and pledged a thorough, transparent investigation into the incidents. He also announced a comprehensive review of all missing person cases on the island to identify further errors or misconduct and promised to establish safeguards to prevent future lapses.

While center and center right sources focus on the official apology and the specific misconduct of the officer, a center right source frames the event as part of a larger systemic issue. That source argues the scandal raises questions about whether the national police force is fit to receive sweeping new investigative powers given a perceived tendency toward cover ups.

How each side framed it

Centre
The source focused on the official apology and the agency's promised corrective actions.
Centre-right
One source focused on the specific apology while another used the event to question the police force's fitness for expanded authority.

Sources

100% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.