South Korea to review 310,000 missing person cases after police falsification scandal

South Korean police announced they will re‑examine roughly 310,000 missing‑person cases that were closed over the past three years after a scandal involving a Jeju police officer accused of falsifying records. The officer, who worked on the missing‑persons team at the Jeju Western police station, is alleged to have closed the files of two individuals who were later found dead. The investigation has attracted national attention, prompting President Lee Jae Myung to order a review of police handling and to demand a reform plan.

The Interior Minister, Yun Hojung, issued a public apology on Wednesday, saying the case revealed a structural flaw in how the police manage missing‑person investigations. He said the police would revise procedures to prevent future errors. The scandal has reignited scrutiny of the country’s approach to missing adults. Last year, more than 70,000 adults were reported missing, and 99.7 % of those cases were closed without a comprehensive search. Of the closed cases, 931 people were later discovered to be dead.

Under Korean law, only children, autistic persons, and people with dementia or other mental disabilities are formally classified as missing. That status enables police to request phone‑location data, issue emergency alerts to every phone in a defined area, and match family DNA. All other missing adults are treated as runaways, a classification that does not automatically grant access to these investigative tools.

The officer in question is accused of closing the file on 37‑year‑old Jang Mi‑ran about two and a half hours after her partner reported her missing in mid‑May. Police allege he claimed to have spoken to her and that she had declined to reveal her location, but no record of such a call exists. Jang’s body was found on Monday in a palm farm roughly 400 metres from her last known location, 104 days after she was last seen. The cause of death remains undetermined. The same officer is also accused of closing the case of a man in his 60s on the day his family reported him missing in early July; his body was found the following Saturday. Two other missing persons in Jeju were also discovered dead.

The officer denied wrongdoing, stating that he had contacted the two missing persons before closing their files, according to the Jeju Provincial Police Agency. He was arrested earlier this week and faces charges including dereliction of duty and falsifying official electronic records.

The review is scheduled to finish by November, according to Yonhap News Agency. Any cases suspected of improper handling will be reopened for further investigation. Over the past decade, lawmakers have introduced more than ten bills to extend search powers to missing adults, but none has passed.

Critics argue that adults should be allowed to disappear if they choose, and warn that expanded police tracking powers could be abused by creditors pursuing debtors or by abusers seeking partners who have fled. The current investigation may prompt lawmakers to revisit the debate on balancing individual freedom with the need for thorough search procedures.