Park Seong-ju, former head of the Korean National Police Agency's National Investigation Headquarters. [Korean National Police Agency]
Park Seong-ju, former head of the Korean National Police Agency's National Investigation Headquarters. [Korean National Police Agency]

Prosecutors have designated former Korean National Police Agency National Investigation Headquarters chief Park Seong-ju and other senior police officials as suspects in connection with allegations of a botched investigation into Jang Yun-gi.

The Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office booked Park on charges including abuse of authority and obstruction of rights, according to Yonhap on Tuesday. Prosecutors also booked four other senior police officials — including the criminal affairs director of the National Investigation Headquarters — on the same charges. Park led the headquarters at the time of the Jang case but retired June 30 upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 60.

Park and the others are suspected of ordering investigators at Gwangju's Gwangsan Police Station to split the probe into Jang's alleged crimes — including murder and sexual assault — into separate inquiries during the initial investigation in May, a move that allegedly produced a flawed investigation.

The core of the misconduct allegations is that police colluded with Jang's father, Inspector Jang, a senior Gwangju police official, to exclude sexual assault charges and forward the case to prosecutors on a murder charge only. The Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office found indications that the Gwangsan Station investigation team failed to secure evidence of Jang's rape charges even after discovering it, and leaked real-time investigative information to his father.

Officers at Gwangsan Station who investigated Jang have maintained that they split the murder and sexual assault inquiries on orders from the National Investigation Headquarters, saying their request to consolidate the sexual assault case was denied.

Prosecutors had previously questioned Park and others as witnesses while investigating allegations of evidence destruction by the Gwangsan Station violent crimes unit, which had forwarded the Jang case as ordinary murder. Prosecutors then reclassified them as suspects and notified the Korean National Police Agency and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials. "We are not yet at a stage where we can disclose the investigative status of the five newly booked individuals, including their respective agencies," a prosecutor said.

Separately, a special investigation unit within the National Investigation Headquarters that is examining the Jang case is questioning the former Gwangsan Station chief and head of the criminal affairs division as suspects.


park.jiyeong@heraldcorp.com