![Inspector Park, the head of the investigation team at Gwangju Gwangsan Police Station who is accused of destroying evidence in the Jang Yun-gi case — in which a high school girl was murdered — leaves the courtroom at Gwangju District Court in Dong-gu after attending a pre-arrest warrant hearing Wednesday morning. [Yonhap]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/07/15/rcv.YNA.20260708.PYH2026070809600005400_P1.jpg)
Inspector Park, the head of the investigation team at Gwangju Gwangsan Police Station, was detained on charges including destroying key evidence in the murder case of the late Lee Chae-won. He had previously received dozens of government commendations for his work protecting crime victims.
According to commendation records that the office of People Power Party lawmaker Shin Dong-wook obtained from the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency, Park received 43 commendations between 1996, when he joined the force as a patrol officer, and 2025.
In October 2022, Park received a commendation from the Interior and Safety minister on the occasion of the 77th Police Day.
![The Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office sent investigators to Gwangsan Police Station — which had handled the Jang Yun-gi case — to execute a search and seizure warrant on Monday. Prosecutors have booked multiple officers from the criminal division on charges including leaking official secrets and destroying evidence. Pictured is a cable tie found in the front passenger storage compartment of the SUV Jang used in the crime, photographed around 12:45 p.m. on Sunday. [Yonhap]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/07/15/rcv.YNA.20260707.PYH2026070705790005402_P1.jpg)
The commendation cited Park's "outstanding contribution to protecting crime victims through a strong sense of mission."
According to the official citation, Park handled 128 crime victims under close management. Among his noted achievements was providing smartwatches to 74 victims who feared for their personal safety. He also arranged psychological counseling and medical expense support for crime victims. He further took steps to ensure that bereaved families of victims killed in violent crimes could receive funeral expenses and educational grants.
In 2008, Park received a "model civil servant" commendation from the prime minister. In 2023, the detective team he led was named the top detective team at the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency.
Prosecutors are expanding their investigation into what they believe was Park's concealment of a 50-centimeter industrial cable tie found in Jang Yun-gi's vehicle — prepared to restrain the victim — after Jang murdered Lee on May 5. Park reportedly instructed team members to "leave the cable tie as it is."
The following day, May 6, Park handed the crime vehicle over to Inspector Jang — Jang Yun-gi's father and an active-duty police officer — who then removed the cable tie from the vehicle and hid it at his home.
Police had initially sent the case to prosecutors on a simple murder charge, but prosecutors upgraded it to murder with rape and similar charges following a supplementary investigation, and Jang Yun-gi was indicted and detained.
As evidence of an organized cover-up at Gwangsan Police Station came to light, the victim's bereaved family expressed outrage at a press conference Wednesday. "The police we trusted to clear our daughter's name were not on our side — they were on the side of the killer," they said.
jshan@heraldcorp.com
