SEOUL(National Times)- A South Korean police officer lied in order to close over two dozen missing persons cases, including two people later found dead, so as to avoid additional work, authorities said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two of the missing people were among four bodies found over several days in August on Jeju, shaking the resort island and prompting calls for answers from the police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One case involved 37-year-old Jang Mi-ran, whose body was discovered on August 24, months after her boyfriend reported her missing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The resulting scandal prompted President Lee Jae Myung to order an investigation into the handling of Jang\u2019s case and to call for reforms within the police force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another case involved a man in his 60s who had also been reported missing. The officer, surnamed Bu, was arrested last week, accused of recording Jang\u2019s death as a \u201ctraffic accident\u201d, while telling her family he had contacted her and she did not wish to be found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bu falsely closed the cases because he \u201cwas driven primarily by work-related negligence arising from accumulated workload pressures and fatigue associated with increased responsibilities\u201d, Jeju Police Agency detective Jung Tae-woon told reporters on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe suspect\u2019s evasive and irresponsible attitude is believed to have contributed to the offence,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Police said they could not determine the cause of Jang\u2019s death because of the advanced decomposition of her body, a departure from their earlier assessment that there were no signs of foul play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Police conducted a comprehensive review of around 300 missing persons cases handled by Bu over about 16 months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SEOUL(National Times)- A South Korean police officer lied in order to close over two dozen missing persons cases, including two people later found dead, so as to avoid additional work, authorities said on Tuesday. Two of the missing people were among four bodies found over several days in August on Jeju, shaking the resort island […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132377,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n