Three married officers at same Daegu substation caught in affairs; husband files for divorce

Details have emerged about an extramarital scandal at a police substation in Daegu, where a married female officer was found to have had affairs with two married male colleagues.

According to police Friday, the Daegu Metropolitan Police Agency recently confirmed the misconduct of three officers at the same substation through an internal audit and issued disciplinary action. Officer A, a female sergeant in her 30s, received a three-month suspension; Officer B, a male inspector in his 40s, received a two-month suspension; and Officer C, a male senior constable in his 40s, received a reprimand.

The audit found that Officer A had been leaving her post since November last year by coordinating shift and break times with Officer B, a colleague at the same substation, and that the two had met in the substation's break room, meeting room and patrol vehicles. They carried on the affair in the break room, overnight duty room, meeting room and inside patrol cars, with no regard for time or place. When her relationship with Officer B grew distant, Officer A began a second affair with Officer C, another colleague at the same substation, starting in January — a pattern described as "affair-switching."

On Thursday, JTBC's crime affairs program "Sageon Banjang" aired information provided by a representative acting on behalf of the female officer's husband, referred to as the victim.

The victim said he grew suspicious after noticing unusual behavior from his wife: her work hours were irregular, she once came home so drunk she slept outside their front door, and on another occasion she changed her clothes in the first-floor storage room after claiming she had been out.

He then checked his wife's KakaoTalk messages and found multiple signs of the affair. His wife had sent photos of herself wearing underwear bought by one of the men, and the affairs reportedly continued even during trips away. Messages between the two included sexually explicit language, with one man writing to her, "Let's shower together. Can I come up? I want to explore you." There were also exchanges suggesting physical contact, including a message from the wife saying, "I'll have to make you pay for the cost of washing the sheets."

When the victim confronted his wife about the affairs in April, she reportedly responded that it was a one-time mistake that was already over, and asked why he was making a big deal out of something he just needed to let go.

All three officers involved have children. After the victim pursued legal action, the two male officers reportedly pleaded with him to "please just protect our families and our jobs." One sent the victim a message saying, "My spouse, my children and I are all going through hell and suffering."

The victim has filed a lawsuit against the two male officers for adultery and a divorce suit against his wife. His wife is reportedly seeking custody and parental rights over their child.

Attorney Park Ji-hoon said the case should be viewed in the same context as the "Jang Yun-gi case," adding, "Aren't they out of their minds? The disciplinary action is too light. I think the police organization is going to face serious problems over this."

The "Jang Yun-gi case" refers to an incident in Gwangju in which Jang Yun-gi attempted to rape and then killed a female high school student he encountered on the street, and his father — a police officer — used his position to collude with investigators and destroy evidence. Yoo Jae-seong, the acting commissioner general of the Korean National Police Agency, apologized Friday in connection with that case, saying he felt deeply sorry to the public.