4 bodies found in 3 days, an officer arrested for falsely closing missing cases, what's going on in Jeju?

A single missing-persons case has exploded into a nationwide scandal, encompassing the cases of nearly 300 other missing persons.

The case centres around the actions of a single police sergeant, accused of having faked evidence in order to close cases, which, at the very least, may have critically impacted families' ability to help the victims.

No contact

As of Aug. 26, four bodies were found on Jeju Island in the span of three days between Aug. 22 and Aug. 24.

Of the four deceased, it is the case of 37-year-old Jang Mi-Ran that has invited the most furore.

Jang was initially reported missing in May 2026, and the police officer in charge of her case, an officer surnamed Bu, had told her family that he had spoken to her and that she did not want her whereabouts disclosed, as reported by The Korea Herald, via the Asia News Network.

However, Bu appears to have lied about speaking to Jang, and that there was no record of any communication between Bu and Jang.

Instead, Bu had closed the case without confirming Jang’s safety, forcing the family to refile the case in July, by which time much of the digital evidence related to her disappearance, such as CCTV footage, would have been deleted, making finding her much more difficult.

He is alleged to have done the same for another case involving a man in his 60s, whose body was found on Aug. 22.

False records

It is feared that all 298 missing-persons reports that Bu had handled and closed were affected in some way, and South Korean police are now investigating all of them.

The case has prompted the police to investigate a vast number of missing person’s case, with Yon Hap reporting that in Busan, over a two and a half year period starting in 2024, over 99 per cent of the over 25,600 missing persons cases were closed.

He is now facing charges of dereliction of duty, obstructing official duties, and falsifying and using official electronic records.

Among the many concerns the case has thrown up is how Bu was able to close such cases without any supervision.

All four officers in his chain of command at the Jeju Seobu Police Station, including the current and former chief of the station, the head of the detective division, and the leader of the missing-persons cases team, have been removed from active duty.

Breakdown in discipline

South Korea’s president Lee Jae Myung has had to react to the case, having since ordered the creation of a government body to oversee reforms to the police.

Korea Times quotes Lee as saying “the recent breakdown in police discipline and irresponsibility in public safety matters have become serious problems.”

Confidence in the police, the Times said, was already shaken by previous unrelated scandals, such as when a police officer whose son was accused of murder was found to have destroyed evidence related to the case.

Bafflement

Korea JoongAng Daily spoke to fellow police officers about the case, who were baffled by Bu’s actions.

They noted that closing the cases and lying in the manner he did would not have significantly alleviated Bu’s workload, nor would closing more missing persons cases improve his performance record.

One officer said that Bu wasn’t even conducting the searches for missing persons himself, and his actions had “effectively interfered with the search efforts of other officers.”

Bu has told investigators that he had actually contacted the missing persons, and denies wrongdoing.

Rumours and speculation

Jeju is a popular holiday and tourist destination, attracting both domestic and foreign visitors.

But since the news of the deaths and disappearances has reached virality, many worrying stories have emerged.

Some tell of locals advising visitors to travel in groups, and to take cabs or public transport to destinations rather than walking.

Others speculated wildly more nefarious, unsubstantiated, possibilities.

Meanwhile, sources such as SBS News, quoting the head of the Pyo Chang Won Crime Science Research Institute, said that there were no signs of a physical struggle or of a third party entering or leaving the scene of Jang’s death, leaving an equally tragic but less sensational explanation for her death and disappearance: that she had taken her own life.

However, he said one should not jump to conclusions hastily, and criticised the police for their actions.

"If the police had continued the search without lying at the outset that they had made contact, early discovery would have been fully possible, even if survival could not be guaranteed."