Jang Mi-ran, 37, who went missing on Jeju Island. [Provided by the victim's family]
Jang Mi-ran, 37, who went missing on Jeju Island. [Provided by the victim's family]

Troubling details continue to emerge from missing-person investigations on Jeju Island, including the case of Jang Mi-ran, 37. A male resident recently found dead on the island had also been reported missing — and his case, like Jang's, had been falsely closed by the same officer. The man had in fact been missing for more than 50 days when his body was discovered.

The Jeju Provincial Police Agency said Sunday that officers found the body of a missing man identified only as B during a search on Saturday. Police determined that Officer A — the same junior officer who had falsely closed Jang's missing-person case — had also fraudulently closed B's case, and arrested him on the spot.

B's family had filed a missing-person report with police on July 2. Officer A closed the case, telling the family that B was safe. He also removed B's information from the police missing-persons profiling system.

After Jang's case became public, B's family filed a new report stating B was still missing. During that process, police realized the officer originally assigned to B's case was the same Officer A who had handled Jang's case. A subsequent investigation confirmed that B's case had also been fraudulently closed.

B's body was found Saturday — 51 days after he was first reported missing. Officer A had told B's family that B was safe while also claiming he could not disclose B's whereabouts because B did not wish to be found.

Police are also investigating Officer A over the Jang Mi-ran case, in which he not only falsely closed the long-term missing-person report but also entered "suspicious death" — a term indicating the person had died — into the missing-persons profiling system and deleted related records.


dlcw@heraldcorp.com