Police officer admits to closing missing person cases to avoid work

A South Korean police officer has admitted to closing missing persons cases without investigating them in order to avoid additional work, according to authorities.

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.

Amid mounting public criticism, police embarked on belated searches for several missing persons on the island, and have since discovered four bodies in recent weeks.

The scandal has prompted President Lee Jae Myung to vow to reform the police, as the government prepares to give the police more powers.

On Tuesday, the Jeju Provincial Police said 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 claimed he had contacted the missing persons and then prematurely closed their cases without confirming their whereabouts and safety.

A police statement said that during their investigations into Bu, he had "stated to the effect that 'the missing person was a typical adult so I thought about 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'."

One of the cases involved a 37-year-old woman named Jang Mi-ran who went missing in May and was reported missing by her boyfriend.

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

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

Jang's body was found near a palm tree plantation on Jeju last week.

In another case where a man in his 60s was reported missing in July, Bu similarly falsely claimed that he had spoken to the man and that the man did not want to be contacted.

The man was eventually found dead earlier this month.

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

Bodies found on S Korean holiday island as missing persons scandal deepens

Violent crime is rare in South Korea, where suicide rates are among the highest in the world.

While more than 70,000 adults are reported missing in South Korea each year, 99% of them are marked as resolved within a month.

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

The government had recently passed laws to transfer full investigative power from the prosecutors to the police, a move they said was intended to curtail the prosecutors' influence in politics.

However, this move has been unpopular among the public, who have for many years accused the police of corruption and incompetence.

President Lee has vowed to reform the police in the wake of recent criticism.

On Tuesday President Lee said that it was "regrettable" that because 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".

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