A police officer lied in order to close over two dozen missing persons cases, including two people later found dead, so as to avoid additional work, authorities said.
Two of the missing people were among four bodies found over several days in August on Jeju, prompting calls for answers from the police.
One case involved 37-year-old Jang Mi-ran, whose body was discovered on Aug 24, months after being reported missing.
The resulting scandal prompted President Lee Jae-myung to order an investigation into the handling of Jang’s case and to call for reforms within the police force.
The officer, surnamed Bu, was arrested last week, accused of recording Jang’s death as a “traffic accident”, while telling her family he had contacted her and she did not wish to be found.
Bu falsely closed the cases because he “was driven primarily by work-related negligence arising from accumulated workload pressures and fatigue associated with increased responsibilities”, Jeju Police Agency detective Jung Tae-woon told reporters on Tuesday.
“The suspect’s evasive and irresponsible attitude is believed to have contributed to the offence,” he added.
Police said they could not determine the cause of Jang’s death because of the advanced decomposition of her body, a departure from their earlier assessment that there were no signs of foul play.
Police conducted a comprehensive review of around 300 missing persons cases handled by Bu over about 16 months.
They found that Bu falsely closed a further 25 cases without verifying the whereabouts of the missing or by deleting records after reporting the person dead.
All 25 individuals involved in those cases were eventually found safe, authorities reported. — AFP
