Jeju Missing Persons Scandal: 4 Senior Police Officers Removed
A recent missing persons scandal has shaken Jeju Island, a popular tourist destination in South Korea. A Jeju police officer was found to have closed a missing persons case prematurely, without proper investigation, and even claimed the victim was safe when in fact she had died.
South Korea’s National Police Agency (NPA), as reported by The Korea Herald and Yonhap on Wednesday (26/8/2026), announced that at least four senior officers at Jeju Seobu Police Station have been removed from their posts and suspended from duty in connection with the case.
The officer at the centre of the investigation, identified by the surname Bu and in his 30s, is accused of closing missing persons cases after falsely claiming he had confirmed the safety of individuals reported missing in the Jeju area.
One of the cases closed by Bu, who served at Jeju Seobu Police Station, was that of Jang Mi Ran, a 37-year-old woman reported missing since May whose body was found on Monday (24/8). Bu is accused of closing the case without verifying her safety and deleting her data from the police missing persons profile mapping system.
Bu is also suspected of doing the same in another missing persons case last month involving a man in his 60s. The man’s body was found on Saturday (22/8) local time.
Bu faces a string of criminal charges, including dereliction of duty, forgery, and use of official electronic records, as well as obstructing the performance of official duties through deceptive means.
He was briefly held under emergency detention on Saturday (22/8) but was released on Monday (24/8) after a court ruled that his detention did not meet the legal requirements regarding urgency.
Police subsequently applied for an arrest warrant, and on Tuesday (25/8), as reported by Yonhap, Jeju District Court issued a formal arrest warrant for Bu on charges of falsely closing missing persons cases that may have led to the victims’ deaths.
The four senior police officers removed from their posts in connection with the case comprise the current head of Jeju Seobu Police Station, the station chief who was in office when Jang was reported missing, the head of the Detective Division, and the team leader handling missing persons cases at the station.
The NPA stated that it is conducting an internal review to determine whether the four senior officers properly supervised the handling of the cases and whether they should be held accountable for failures in command and oversight.
Bu is alleged to have closed Jang’s case after claiming he had spoken with the woman and informed her family that Jang did not wish her whereabouts to be disclosed.
However, police investigators found no record of the conversation Bu claimed to have had with Jang, either on his personal or official mobile phone. No similar record was found on Jang’s phone either.
Jang’s family filed a new missing persons report in Seoul on 19 July, after Bu had closed the case in Jeju. However, potentially crucial evidence was lost during that period, including CCTV footage near Jang’s residence that had already been erased by the time police began examining it.
A body believed to be Jang was found in a palm oil plantation area approximately 400 metres from her residence on 24 August, 104 days after she was reported missing.