Hong Joon-pyo warns government will be held responsible over Jang Mi-ran case

Former Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo warned Wednesday that the current government "will find it hard to escape responsibility" over the death of Jang Mi-ran in Jeju, saying he believes she was most likely murdered.

Writing on Facebook on Wednesday, Hong said he is convinced the case "is not a suicide but highly likely a homicide." Drawing on five years as a prosecutor handling violent crimes, drug cases and organized crime, he said he found it hard to believe the official finding that the cause of death was undetermined due to decomposition of the body.

Hong then questioned whether political calculations had shaped the investigation's direction. "Isn't it a politically motivated judgment that, by ruling it a suicide, the case gets handled as an individual officer's misconduct, requires no further investigation, and is simply forgotten?" he said. He added that failing to find criminal traces on a body — the most critical evidence in any homicide — amounted to an admission of incompetence by police.

"The current government, which has entrusted public safety to such incompetent police and handed them full investigative authority, will find it hard to escape the chaos and responsibility that lie ahead," he said.