Jang Yun-gi, the defendant in the Gwangju high school girl murder case, is being transferred from the Gwangju Seobu Police Station to the prosecution on May 14. While the police had initially charged Jang with simple murder, the prosecution, after supplementary investigations, indicted him under custody for charges including murder during rape. [Photo = Yonhap News]

Allegations of a downplayed and botched investigation into the Jang Yun-gi case have now expanded beyond the Gwangju Gwangsan Police Station to the National Office of Investigation (NOI) of the National Police Agency.

According to Yonhap News, “multiple police officers who participated in or supported the investigation from the time of Jang Yun-gi’s arrest to his transfer to the prosecution testified that the application of the simple murder charge and the separation of the murder and sexual assault investigations were directed by the NOI.” If these claims are proven true, the responsibility for the investigation, which was previously thought to be the result of unilateral decisions by Gwangsan Police Station officials, will extend all the way to the highest command level of the police investigative agency.

However, what has been confirmed so far is only the testimony of police officers claiming there was direction from the NOI. It has not been verified whether the NOI and the Gwangsan Police Station colluded in advance to downplay the charges against Jang. Whether this was routine management of a major case or an inappropriate intervention with a predetermined conclusion must be clarified separately through the reporting and command records between the NOI, the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency, and the Gwangsan Police Station.

“For major cases, the local unit is not in a position to reach a conclusion independently”

The claims made by the investigating officers at the time are specific.

Because the Jang Yun-gi case was a high-profile incident that drew nationwide attention from the very beginning, they argue that it was difficult for the local investigation team to independently decide on the charges and the direction of the case. The officers testified that the Gwangsan Police Station reported key developments to the NOI, and the NOI’s opinions served as a "guide" for determining how to handle specific aspects of the case.

Within the investigation team, there was also an opinion that Jang Yun-gi should be charged with murder with the intent to commit rape. However, one investigation official claimed to recall that a member of the command staff who had advocated for that charge changed their position after receiving an opinion from the NOI to the effect of, “There is no direct evidence, such as a confession from Jang, so handle it with caution.” Ultimately, the police transferred Jang to the prosecution with a charge of simple murder, rather than murder during rape.

If this claim is true, the Gwangsan Police Station command served as the executing arm, deciding the charges according to the NOI’s opinion. However, it cannot be ruled out that the NOI provided only general legal review opinions, which the Gwangsan officials then over-interpreted, or that the officials pointed to the NOI later to avoid responsibility for a botched investigation.

The then-head of the detective division at Gwangsan Police Station denied the allegations while attending a warrant validity hearing on the 21st, stating that “he did not receive any inappropriate orders from superiors, nor did he issue any.” Therefore, it is too early to conclude collusion or external pressure based on the statements of one side alone.

Why were the murder and the sexual assault from two days prior investigated separately?

The allegations regarding NOI direction are not limited to the application of the simple murder charge.

Jang Yun-gi was also accused of committing sexual assault against a female acquaintance of foreign nationality on May 3, two days before he murdered the high school girl. Although the possibility of transferring that case—which had been filed at a police station in a different region—to the Gwangsan Police Station to merge it with the murder case was reviewed, officers testified that the NOI directed it to be investigated separately by the Women and Juvenile Affairs Division, which has specialized personnel for sexual crimes.

The police officers argue that separating the two cases made it difficult to investigate the connection between Jang’s successive sexual crimes and the murder in a single context. Even the opinion raised within the investigation team regarding charging him with murder with intent to commit rape was not reflected in the final charges transferred due to the command process.

However, assigning sexual assault cases to specialized departments does not automatically constitute an inappropriate order. The key is whether, at the time the decision for a separate investigation was made, the command of the NOI, the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency, and the Gwangsan Police Station recognized the possibility of a link between the two cases, and whether they ordered cooperation and evidence sharing to identify the motive for the crimes even after separating them.

Whether the separate investigation was a routine measure to enhance expertise or a downplayed investigation that resulted in effectively detaching the motive of sexual assault from the scope of the inquiry is a matter that reports and command documents from the time will reveal. The NOI also stated its position that the investigative process at the time, including whether it directed the separation of the investigations, must be clarified through future investigations.

Police: Simple Murder; Prosecution: “Murder during Rape”

The conclusions reached by the police and the prosecution differed significantly.

The police transferred Jang Yun-gi on charges of simple murder. However, the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office, through supplementary investigation, determined that Jang approached the victim with the intent to kidnap and rape her, and murdered her when she resisted strongly. On June 2, the prosecution indicted Jang under custody for “murder during rape” under the Act on the Punishment of Sexual Crimes. This is currently the prosecution’s charge, not a final court judgment.

The prosecution presented evidence to support the motive of sexual assault, such as the fact that Jang had left his car door open and prepared cable ties before the crime, the circumstances indicating he tried to overpower the victim and drag her toward his vehicle, and the fact that the modus operandi was similar to the sexual assault case that occurred two days prior.

The difference in charges alters the lower limit of punishment. The statutory penalty for murder under the Criminal Act is the death penalty, life imprisonment, or imprisonment for at least 5 years. In contrast, murder during rape under the Sexual Crime Punishment Act mandates either the death penalty or life imprisonment. This is not a simple difference in charge selection, but a grave decision that determines the very possibility of receiving a term of imprisonment.

Whether the prosecution’s judgment will be accepted in court will be determined during the trial. However, it is clear that the charges changed after the prosecution’s supplementary investigation re-examined motives and evidence that the police had failed to secure or to which they had failed to assign significance.

The NOI, which was investigating the botched case, is now also subject to search and seizure

A special police investigation unit and the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office simultaneously conducted searches and seizures on NOI-related departments on the morning of the 21st.

The special police unit sent investigators to offices including the Violent Crime Investigation Division of the NOI to verify the overall reporting and command details of the Jang Yun-gi case. The special unit is investigating whether the command line intervened, keeping in mind the possibility of an intentional botched investigation, such as failure to secure key evidence and the dismissal of major circumstances.

The NOI was initially the command agency tasked with uncovering allegations of favoritism and botched investigations by the Gwangsan Police Station. However, if the testimony of the officers on the ground is to be believed, the NOI is both the subject of the fact-finding mission and a party to the allegations regarding the direction of the investigation at the time.

The focus of the investigation is clear. It must be verified what was contained in the reports the Gwangsan Police Station sent to the NOI, the opinions and orders sent down by the NOI or the Gwangju Police Agency command, and the call and messenger records of the people involved. Whether it was a routine opinion of “proceed with caution due to lack of direct evidence” or a specific order to exclude the sexual assault motive and handle it as simple murder marks the boundary of responsibility.

It must also be determined whether the Gwangsan officials downplayed the case and then shifted the blame to the NOI, or whether the NOI and local command decided the direction of the investigation together. The allegations of "collusion" are not about the intensity of expression, but are the subject of an investigation that must be proven through documents and records.

The Jang Yun-gi case no longer remains a matter of misconduct by an investigation team at a single police station. It has grown into a case that asks whether the entire police command structure blocked the identification of the motive for the crime, and whether internal reporting and command prioritized organizational protection over the discovery of truth.

The process by which the police’s transfer for simple murder was changed to an indictment for murder during rape in the prosecution’s supplementary investigation once again demonstrates the need for mutual verification mechanisms between investigative agencies. The key to determining whether the NOI is the agent of fact-finding or a command line that needs to be investigated lies, in the end, in the report documents and communication records secured through the search and seizure.