채윤환
| 2026-08-31 13:52:28
SEOUL, Aug. 31 (Yonhap) -- The exact cause of death remains unknown for a missing woman who was recently found dead on the southern resort island of Jeju due to body decomposition, a senior police official said Monday.
The body of the victim, identified by her surname Jang, was discovered last Monday at a palm tree farm near an accommodation facility she had stayed at, months after she was first reported missing by her boyfriend in May.
The case has faced intense scrutiny after a police officer was found to have closed her case without confirming her safety. The officer allegedly lied to the boyfriend that he had spoken with her and that he was asked not to share her location.
"Due to the decomposition of her body, the cause of death is unknown," Hong Seok-ki, head of the National Office of Investigation, told reporters in a briefing. "We are investigating by leaving all possibilities open."
Investigators earlier downplayed the likelihood of foul play, citing initial autopsy findings that suggested the victim died by hanging.
Hong acknowledged shortcomings in the police response, saying he felt a "heavy sense of responsibility."
The case has prompted the police to reexamine about 310,000 missing person cases that were closed over the past three years to check how they were handled.
Around 15,100 cases have been examined so far, Hong said, adding that officials have so far found no major issues.
The officer who closed Jang's case has been found to have closed over 290 other missing person cases on his own while serving as a member of the Jeju Seobu Police Station's missing person team from March 2025 to July this year.
A police probe into the cases found that he had either deleted or failed to enter 63 of them in the police missing person profiling system.
The officer was placed under arrest last week over the allegations of misconduct in connection with Jang's case.
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