Police reel from Jang Yun-gi scandal as belated reform push raises doubts

The Korean National Police Agency's special investigation unit, probing allegations that police tried to cover up the Jang Yun-gi case, summoned senior officials in the investigation chain of command over the weekend and raided the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency, stepping up efforts to get to the bottom of the scandal.

On Sunday — the day before Jang's second trial — police called in the former head of the criminal investigations division and the lead investigator from Gwangju's Gwangsan Police Station for questioning. Investigators pressed them on allegations that they helped Jang's father, a serving police officer surnamed Jang with the rank of inspector, destroy key evidence that could have proven the crimes. Police also reportedly pressed them on how the case was forwarded to prosecutors with only a simple murder charge rather than rape-murder.

On Saturday, police raided the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency and Gwangsan Police Station. It was the first compulsory search since the special investigation unit was formed Monday. Police said they plan to analyze the seized materials to determine how orders related to the Jang Yun-gi case were issued, how charges were applied, and how far up the chain of command the involvement reached.

The Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office, which first uncovered the allegations of shoddy police work and charge concealment in the Jang Yun-gi case, is also setting its sights on the police command. The office said it would exercise its direct investigative authority over allegations of evidence destruction and leaking of investigative secrets during the police probe.

Prosecutors had earlier confirmed through a supplementary investigation that police missed key evidence supporting sex crime charges against Jang, including adult toys and cable ties. Based on those findings, prosecutors upgraded the charges from murder — as police had submitted — to rape-murder, which carries a sentence of life imprisonment or more, and indicted Jang in detention.

Police have been rolling out a series of self-help measures in an effort to manage the fallout on their own terms. The agency announced Saturday that it had expanded its special investigation team into a full special investigation unit and added 14 members to the existing 27. In a press release, the agency said the expansion was necessary because "the number of subjects under investigation in the Jang Yun-gi case has grown and multiple search-and-seizure operations have been carried out, requiring a broader investigative effort for swift fact-finding." It pledged to "investigate thoroughly so that not a single doubt remains about the entire investigative process."

As the Jang Yun-gi case has put the credibility of police investigations under the spotlight, calls are growing to preserve prosecutors' supplementary investigative authority. Opposition politicians have argued that the allegations would have been buried without the prosecutors' supplementary probe, and that the authority should be retained as a check on police. Legal circles have also raised concerns that abolishing it would make it harder to prevent cases from being buried at the police investigation stage.

As the controversy intensified, acting Commissioner Yoo adjusted his schedule and returned from the United States a day early on Friday. Immediately upon his return, he convened a nationwide video conference of police commanders and said he would "punish those responsible for this matter as severely as the law and the system allow, through investigation and internal affairs inquiries."