KB News Desk
Police and prosecutors raided the police command body that oversees and directs criminal investigations nationwide Tuesday, following its alleged interference in the initial investigation into the killing of a teenage girl in Gwangju.
The Gwangju District Prosecutors’ Office began searching the office of the chief of the National Office of Investigation’s violent crime division and other locations at around 6:15 a.m. A special police investigation team launched its own search-and-seizure operation about an hour later.
The raids followed claims by officers involved in the original investigation that the National Office of Investigation had directed local police to keep an earlier sexual assault case involving the suspect separate from the murder investigation.
Officers have also alleged that the national office influenced the decision to send Jang Yoon-gi to prosecutors on a murder charge rather than a more serious charge involving rape.
Police said their search-and-seizure operation sought to secure records detailing the reporting and command process between the National Office of Investigation and the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency.
Prosecutors said their search was also aimed at examining allegations that members of the original investigation team had leaked confidential information and destroyed evidence during the probe into Jang.
Detectives at Gwangsan Police Station reportedly wanted to investigate the sexual assault and murder cases together after arresting Jang, who was arrested for allegedly killing a high school girl in Gwangju in May.
The former head of the station’s criminal investigation division has claimed through his lawyer that local investigators asked three times to combine the cases but were repeatedly turned down.
His lawyer said the instructions were relayed through the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency and argued that combining the cases could have helped investigators determine whether the killing was sexually motivated.
The special police investigation team, however, suspects that the former division chief influenced the decision to pursue only a murder charge and failed to secure evidence that could have supported a more serious charge.
The near-simultaneous searches also drew attention to the parallel investigations being conducted by police and prosecutors. Both agencies have carried out raids and questioned officials since allegations of misconduct in the original investigation emerged, creating the appearance of a growing contest over who will establish responsibility for the failed probe.
Investigators are expected to use the materials seized Tuesday to determine how extensively the National Office of Investigation was involved in directing the original case.
