Prosecutors raid police offices over alleged mishandling of missing person cases
Prosecutors raid the Jeju Seobu Police Station, Tuesday, over suspicions a police officer prematurely closed missing person cases on the Jeju Island and falsified system records. Yonhap
JEJU — Prosecutors on Tuesday raided multiple police agencies over suspicions a police officer prematurely closed missing person cases on the southern island of Jeju and falsified system records, officials said.
The Jeju District Prosecutors Office conducted searches at the Jeju Provincial Police Agency, the Jeju Seobu Police Station and the National Police Agency headquarters in Seoul, according to police and prosecution officials.
The raids come after a police officer on Jeju was found to have prematurely closed at least two missing person cases involving a woman in her 30s surnamed Jang in May and a man in his 60s in July — without verifying their safety.
Both people's bodies were found on the island in recent weeks.
The prosecutors office said investigators will look into the police's profiling system for missing people to determine how it is operated, as the officer in question allegedly entered the system in administrator mode and inputted false reasons for the missing people's disappearance before deleting the records.
The investigation could also examine whether senior police officials exercised proper supervision.
Separately, the Jeju Provincial Police Agency recently discovered 25 other cases improperly closed by the officer between March 2025 and July 2026 and began an investigation into them.