Femicide Special Investigation Team Finds Evidence That Gwangsan Police Leadership Ordered Document Tampering
The entire leadership of Gwangsan Police Station, which distorted the investigation into the murder of a high school girl, has been referred to prosecutors. According to police on the 21st, the special investigation team under the National Investigation Headquarters of the National Police Agency referred the former Gwangsan police chief and former criminal investigations chief to prosecutors without detention on charges of abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of rights. Including the former violent crimes unit chief, who was previously arrested and referred, a total of four police officers have now been referred to prosecutors over the case.
The special investigation team's probe revealed in detail how the leadership interfered. Investigators had sufficient evidence, based on witness statements and materials secured, to establish charges of murder committed in the course of rape under the Act on the Punishment of Sexual Crimes. However, it was confirmed that, following improper directives from the leadership including the police chief and criminal investigations chief, they applied only general murder charges when referring the case.
Documents were also tampered with. Using the chain of investigative command, the leadership had investigators modify or delete contents of investigation documents so that no evidence of sex crimes, such as stalking or intent to rape, would be revealed, and narrowed the scope of questioning during suspect interrogations. In the process, the criminal investigations chief ordered the early return of the vehicle used in the crime, a key piece of evidence, it was confirmed.
Multiple police personnel were involved in the special team's investigation. To uncover the full picture of the case, the team deployed an investigative task force of up to 41 officers and questioned a total of 44 people across 96 sessions. It conducted searches and seizures of the National Investigation Headquarters, Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency, and Gwangsan Police Station, and analyzed communications and bank account records. "We pursued the investigation keeping open every possibility, including the propriety of the investigation, potential collusion, and whether senior officials issued improper directives," said Oh Dong-wook, head of the special investigation team.
Contact between the suspect's father and the investigation team was also confirmed. Police Inspector Jang Mo, the father of Jang Yoon-ki, who remains an active-duty police officer, exchanged 9 calls and 16 text messages with the then violent crimes unit chief and 14 calls and 7 texts with unit members between May 5 and 14 during the investigation, for a total of 46 contacts. The referred violent crimes unit member is suspected of leaking official secrets for passing investigation details to Jang's father during this period. The National Police Agency's Inspector General's Office has been conducting an internal inspection of Inspector Jang since July.
