Fourth Body Found in 48 Hours on Jeju Island Fuels Fears Over South Korea's Missing Persons Crisis

Key Points:

• South Korean authorities discovered four bodies on Jeju Island within 48 hours, prompting nationwide audits of missing persons cases and a presidential call for police reform due to alleged report falsifications by an officer.
• Officer Bu, accused of fabricating contact with missing individuals to close investigations, is under investigation after cases like 37-year-old Jang Mi-ran’s, whose body was found 104 days after being reported missing, with delayed police actions hindering the search.
• Public outrage has grown over systemic police failures, including regulations allowing single officers to close missing person cases without supervision and a tendency to classify adults as runaways, which critics say leads to police complacency.
• The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced an independent review of nearly 92,800 closed missing person reports from 2024, while Jeju police suspended commanders and launched internal reviews following the scandal.
• Officer Bu was released from custody after a court ruled no urgent detention was needed; forensic examinations have not yet determined causes of death for the recovered bodies.