The Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office and the police special investigation team probing alleged shoddy investigation and collusion by police surrounding the "Gwangju high school girl murder suspect" Jang Yun-gi case are conducting searches and seizures of the Korean National Police Agency National Office of Investigation (NOI) on the same day.
The Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office carried out a search and seizure starting at 6:15 a.m. on the 21st targeting the National Office of Investigation (NOI) violent crime investigation division chief's office and other locations in connection with allegations that police leaked official secrets and destroyed evidence.
The Korean National Police Agency National Office of Investigation (NOI) "fact-finding team on the Jang Yun-gi case" special investigation unit is also executing search and seizure warrants from 7:30 a.m. the same day for the violent crime investigation division office and other sites.
The searches appear to have been launched after statements from investigators emerged that, during the initial probe of the Jang Yun-gi case, the National Office of Investigation (NOI) instructed them to separate the murder case from a past sex crime case. The murder of Lee Chae-won by Jang Yun-gi and the rape of a Vietnamese coworker were split between the Gwangsan Police Station violent crimes team and the women and youth investigation team.
Police later forwarded Jang Yun-gi to prosecutors on a simple murder charge. Prosecutors indicted on murder including rape after supplementary investigation. The statutory minimum sentence for ordinary murder is five years, while the minimum for rape-murder is life imprisonment.
Both prosecutors and the special investigation unit are investigating whether there was intentional negligence in failing to secure key evidence in the Jang Yun-gi case, such as a sex doll and cable ties, and the circumstances behind it. They are also examining whether the investigative command line was involved in the process.