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Monk Myungjin, who has been calling for Buddhist and political reform, has passed away. A funeral service for religious and civil society will be held on the 25th.

Translated from Korean Read in Korean

hani.co.kr ·

Bong Eun-sa, a former high-ranking monk who has been advocating for reform and representing marginalized voices in both the Buddhist and political realms, passed away on January 22nd in Gijang, Seogwipo, Jeju Island. With 76 years of service as a monk and 52 years of monastic training, his final rites were carried out by Bong Eun-sa's own hand on January 25th at 10 AM at the Seonbu of the fifth Jeongak Buddhist Institute.

The funeral will be held at the Seonbu of the Jungak Buddhist Institute, and a committee will be formed to oversee the rites, led by the General Affairs Bureau of Jeongak Buddhist Institute.

Written by urgent.news from Hankyoreh's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.

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The head of the National Police Agency's Human Rights Division visited Jeju Island and apologized to the family of Jang Mi-ran, who went missing 13 years ago, for the police's mishandling of the case. On the 26th, police officials, including the head of the National Police Agency's Human Rights Division, visited the home of Jang Mi-ran's family in a village in Seogwipo, Jeju Island. During the visit, the head of the Human Rights Division offered a sincere apology to the family for the police's past mistakes in handling Jang's case. The police had initially reported that Jang Mi-ran, who was 27 years old at the time, had voluntarily returned home after going out to a singing practice session on the evening of July 29, 2009. However, Jang's family and acquaintances claimed that she had not returned home, and they filed a missing persons report with the police. An investigation by the police found that there was no evidence of a crime, and they concluded that Jang had voluntarily returned home. The case was closed in 2011, but Jang's family continued to search for her. In June of this year, the police reopened the case and began a reinvestigation. On the 25th, DNA analysis confirmed that a set of remains found in a wooded area in Udo, Jeju Island, in 2011, were Jang's. The police said they are currently investigating how the remains ended up there. The head of the Human Rights Division expressed deep regret for the police's earlier mishandling of the case and promised to do their best to find out what happened to Jang.

·hani.co.kr

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