Gwangju murder suspect's uncle also a police officer; victim's mother demands full accountability

Amid growing controversy over revelations that Jang Yun-gi (23), convicted of murdering a high school girl in Gwangju, has a father who is a serving senior police officer, it has now been confirmed that his uncle is also an active-duty police officer. The mother of the victim, the late Lee Chae-won, said there are grounds to suspect evidence was destroyed to protect a colleague, and called for a full investigation into all allegations. She said she was devastated by suspicions that the truth had been distorted and evidence destroyed because the perpetrator's father was a police officer, and appealed for all the facts to be brought to light.

According to a Channel A report Thursday, the Korean National Police Agency's special investigation team has confirmed that Jang's uncle, identified only as A, is a serving police officer, and is now looking into whether A had any personal ties or prior working relationship with the investigators assigned to the Jang case.

However, Jang's uncle is understood to be a mid-level officer at a regional police agency outside Gwangju. Police said they would take strict action if any evidence of A's involvement with the investigation team emerges.

With both Jang's father and uncle serving as police officers, and his father — believed to have destroyed evidence — now set to escape criminal punishment under a legal provision exempting relatives from certain charges, Lee's bereaved family and civic groups have called for severe punishment.

The memorial group for the late Lee Chae-won and her family held a press conference Wednesday in the lobby of the Gwangju Police Agency, saying the case was not a matter of individual investigators' mistakes or incompetence, but pointed to the police organization covering for its own by suppressing and concealing the case. They called on judicial authorities to investigate all allegations without exception.

The group said the head of the investigation team, against whom an arrest warrant has been sought on charges of destroying evidence, has claimed he was merely incompetent and had no intent to obstruct justice — but they dismissed this as an evasion of responsibility and a secondary harm inflicted on the bereaved family. They demanded that officers who shielded Jang and concealed the case be held fully accountable under the law.

Lee's mother said that if police officers' own daughters had been killed unjustly, they would never have stood by while evidence disappeared and the truth was buried. "If the police — who are supposed to be the people's protectors — have so shamelessly covered for their own and concealed the truth, how can any citizen in this country trust them?" she said.

She added that she was once again devastated by suspicions that the truth had been distorted and evidence destroyed simply because the perpetrator's father was a police officer. She said she hoped the investigation and trial would bring all the facts to light so that no one else would suffer the same harm.

Lee's mother also raised the possibility that Jang's father could be shielded from criminal punishment under a legal provision exempting relatives from certain charges, saying she was deeply shocked to learn he might escape prosecution. She urged the National Assembly and the government to review the relevant law.