South Korean police officer admits to closing missing person cases to avoid work

Meanwhile, a South Korean police officer has admitted to closing missing persons cases without investigating them so as to avoid extra work, according to authorities.

Key points

• While more than 70, 000 adults are documented missing in South Korea each year, 99% of them are marked as resolved within a month.
• One of the cases involved a 37-year-old woman named Jang Mi-ran who went missing in May and was documented missing by her boyfriend.
• As the administration prepares to provide the police more powers, the scandal has prompted President Lee Jae Myung to vow to reform the police.
• Violent crime is rare in South Korea, where suicide rates are among the highest in the world.
• Jang's body was discovered near a palm tree plantation on Jeju last week.

For context, the officer, surnamed Bu, was arrested earlier this month after he was accused of prematurely closing cases on the popular holiday island Jeju and lying to missing persons' families.

Against the backdrop of mounting public criticism, police embarked on belated searches for a number of missing persons on the island, and have since discovered four bodies in recent weeks.

On Tuesday, the Jeju Provincial Police remarked Bu had falsely closed at least two high-profile cases and had been charged with forgery of public electronic records, obstruction of official duties and dereliction of duty.

In both cases, Bu had falsely asserted he had contacted the missing persons and then prematurely closed their cases without confirming their whereabouts and safety.

According to A police statement, during their investigations into Bu, he had "stated to the effect that 'the missing person was a typical adult so I thought concerning it carelessly. If the case was not closed, there would have been a lot to take care of, and out of a sense of pressure over the case handover, I falsely closed it'."

At the time, Bu had informed Jang's boyfriend that he had spoken to her and she did not want to meet the police nor be contacted by her boyfriend. According to Authorities afterwards, this was a complete fabrication by Bu.

Bu had entered this false information into the system, and additionally logged that Jang had died in a traffic accident, before closing the case, according to authorities.

In another case where a man in his 60s was documented missing in July, Bu similarly falsely maintained that he had spoken to the man and that the man did not want to be contacted. The man was eventually discovered dead earlier this month.

According to Police additionally, they believe Bu could have prematurely closed another 25 missing persons cases, though in some of those cases the individuals were eventually confirmed to be alive and safe.

Bodies discovered on S Korean holiday island as missing persons scandal deepens.

This scandal comes at a politically sensitive time for the country's police.

Notably, the administration had lately passed laws to transfer full investigative power from the prosecutors to the police, a move they noted was intended to curtail the prosecutors' influence in politics.

Nevertheless, this move has been unpopular among the public. This person have for numerous years accused the police of corruption and incompetence.

President Lee has vowed to reform the police after recent criticism.

According to On Tuesday President Lee, it was "regrettable" that as of a few "loach-like figures who muddy the well water", "the honour and pride of the majority of diligent police officers are being damaged".

For now, south Korean police officer admits to closing missing person cases to avoid remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.