Yu Jae-seong, the acting commissioner general of the Korean National Police Agency, who is on a business trip to the United States, decided to return early. This follows fallout from allegations that, during the investigation into the case of "Gwangju high school girl murderer" Jang Yoon-gi, police failed to properly secure key evidence and leaked investigation information to Inspector Jang, Jang Yoon-gi's father and an active-duty police officer.
According to the Korean National Police Agency on the 8th, Acting Commissioner General Yu departed for the United States on the 5th to attend the United Nations (UN) police chiefs' meeting and other events. The trip was originally scheduled through the 11th, but he canceled the remaining itinerary and decided to return on the morning of the 10th.
The Korean National Police Agency said, "Considering the public interest and concern over the Gwangju high school girl murder case, Acting Commissioner General Yu will cancel the remaining schedule and return early."
Allegations of a botched investigation in the Jang Yoon-gi case are snowballing. Inspector A, the head of the investigative team, underwent a pretrial detention hearing (warrant review) on suspicion of destroying evidence—the restraint tool "cable ties"—during the search of Jang Yoon-gi's sport utility vehicle (SUV). Prosecutors found the missing cable ties during a search and seizure of the residence of Inspector Jang, Jang Yoon-gi's father.
While conducting an internal probe into allegations of collusion with Inspector Jang and related issues, police secured leads substantiating the suspicions and placed six people on standby, including the Gwangsan Police Station chief who led the Jang Yoon-gi investigation, the then head of the criminal division, and four team members under the investigative team leader.
The bereaved family of the victim in the Jang Yoon-gi case, the late Lee Chae-won, also condemned the police. Lee's mother held a press conference at the Gwangju Police Agency and said, "Because the perpetrator is from a police family, they downplayed the case and systematically covered it up," and "We believed, more than anyone, that the police would conduct a rigorous investigation and clear our Chae-won's injustice, but they were not on our side—they were on the murderer's side."
The controversy has shifted to the ruling camp's push to abolish the prosecution's supplementary investigation authority. The Supreme Prosecutors' Office effectively expressed opposition to a Criminal Procedure Act amendment centered on abolishing the prosecution's supplementary investigation authority.
The Supreme Prosecutors' Office said, "Supplementary investigations are the quickest and most efficient means of judicial oversight to correct investigative delays, errors, and omissions by judicial police," adding, "If this is not recognized and matters are addressed through requests for supplementary investigations, innocent victims will be mass-produced amid 'case ping-pong' between prosecutors and police."
It added, "As seen recently in the Gwangju high school girl murder case and the case of the late director Kim Chang-min, supplementary investigations by prosecutors have revealed the substance of buried cases and enabled relief and protection for innocent victims."