▲ A Jeju police officer accused of wrongfully closing missing person cases leaves a court on the southern resort island, in this photo taken Aug. 25, 2026. (Yonhap)

JEJU, South Korea, Sept. 1 (Yonhap) -- A Jeju police officer arrested for wrongfully closing a missing person case that may have contributed to the woman's death has claimed to have done so to avoid an increased workload, police said Tuesday.

The Jeju Provincial Police Agency made the announcement at a media briefing before referring the unidentified officer, who holds the rank of corporal, to prosecutors on charges including dereliction of duty and forgery.

"The officer stated to the effect that he had been complacent because the missing person was an ordinary adult and falsely closed the case because he wanted to avoid the burden of handing it over, as there were many things to take care of if the case remained open," the agency said.

The officer is accused of closing the case of the missing woman, only identified by her surname Jang, in May without confirming her safety and deleting her information from the police's missing persons profiling system. Jang's body was found on the island on Aug. 24.

The officer was also found to have prematurely closed another missing person case in July, and the body of the missing person, a man in his 60s, was found on Aug. 22.

The officer initially claimed that he had contacted the missing persons but admitted that he had lied when the police investigation began.

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