Daejeon Prison [Yonhap]
Daejeon Prison [Yonhap]

One hundred rounds of ammunition have vanished without a trace from a South Korean prison. After an intensive internal probe at Daejeon Prison failed to locate the missing rounds, correctional authorities referred the case to police.

According to legal sources Sunday, the Korea Correctional Service under the Ministry of Justice recently asked police to investigate the cause of the disappearance.

The ministry first discovered the discrepancy during a comprehensive audit of Daejeon Prison in June, when inspectors found that the number of rounds recorded in the facility's logbooks did not match the actual inventory on hand.

The missing ammunition consists of 100 rounds of 9mm K-5 pistol cartridges — the difference between what the logbooks showed and what was physically present.

The ministry subsequently formed an investigation team led by the head of the Correctional Service's security policy division to conduct an intensive probe into whether any ammunition had been removed from the facility.

The probe ruled out both clerical errors and incorrect entries in the ammunition logbooks, as well as the possibility that rounds had been lost inside the armory itself.

Authorities also searched the homes of staff responsible for managing the ammunition to determine whether any rounds had been removed, but none were found.

The ministry said it cannot rule out the possibility that the supplier packaged 100 fewer rounds than required when manually packing the ammunition for delivery.

However, the ministry added that an administrative investigation has its limits in establishing the cause, which is why it formally referred the matter to police.

Authorities also conducted a nationwide inspection of firearms and ammunition management across all correctional facilities and found signs of a similar problem at Cheonan Prison.

At that facility, the physical count of 5.56mm M16 rounds was reportedly 40 short of the number recorded in the logbooks.

Authorities referred that case to police as well.

A Ministry of Justice official said the ministry plans to establish a "comprehensive ammunition management improvement plan for correctional facilities" drawing on best practices from the military and police. The official added that the ministry will strengthen its management system by improving every stage of the process — from initial receipt and storage to inspection — and by overhauling the relevant regulations.


greg@heraldcorp.com