Bodies found on S Korean holiday island as missing persons scandal deepens

Four missing individuals have been discovered deceased on Jeju, South Korea's holiday island, amid intensifying public outrage over alleged mishandling of missing persons cases by local police. Rumors surfaced last week that authorities began a delayed search for a woman reportedly missing for months, which ignited criticism of the police for not searching earlier.

The scandal has since escalated with the arrest of a police sergeant, surnamed Bu, accused of deceiving victims' families and prematurely concluding missing persons cases. Four officers in the sergeant's hierarchy have been placed on administrative leave, and President Lee Jae Myung has mandated a comprehensive police force reform.

Since Saturday, police have unearthed four bodies on the island, including that of 37-year-old Jang Mi-ran, who had gone missing in May. Her body was found near where she was residing, believed to be the result of suicide. Bu is suspected of prematurely closing Jang's case without verifying her whereabouts. According to local reports, Bu allegedly told Jang's boyfriend that he had spoken to her on the phone and she had expressed no desire to converse with her boyfriend.

Police also located the body of a man in his sixties from Jeju City on Saturday. The man had gone missing on June 28; Bu had closed his case, falsely assuring the family he was found safe but refusing to disclose his location to the family. It remains uncertain whether Bu's involvement extends to the missing persons cases of two additional bodies found in coastal villages recently.

Police are currently scrutinizing all missing persons reports handled by Bu, numbering nearly 300. Jeju is one of South Korea's most favored tourist spots, attracting over 13 million foreign and domestic visitors in the previous year. Although violent crime is uncommon in South Korea, suicide rates rank among the highest globally.

Some experts allege that the low crime rate contributes to missing persons cases being dismissed as trivial. After witnessing firsthand that the majority of missing adults are discovered promptly, Lee Yung-hyeock, a police science expert at Konkuk University, told Yonhap news agency, "Officers often assume all cases are similar."

Despite over 70,000 adults reported missing annually in South Korea, 99% are categorized as resolved within a month. Tuesday, President Lee stated during a Cabinet meeting, "Recent lapses in police discipline and irresponsibility in public safety matters have become serious problems. The Korean people are questioning whether the police deserve such extensive power."

South Korea's national police chief faced questioning by lawmakers at an emergency National Assembly hearing on Monday, where he admitted, "There is a fault in the system." This scandal intersects with a politically sensitive period for South Korea's police, as the government recently enacted reforms to transfer full investigative authority from prosecutors to the police, a move intended to curb the prosecutors' political influence.

However, the reform has been met with public disapproval, who have long accused the police of corruption and incompetence.