Jang Mi-ran Missing for Three Months -- Police False Report and Data Deletion Allegations

[26.08.21] Jang Mi-ran Missing for Three Months -- Police False Report and Data Deletion Allegations

A woman in her 30s who went missing on Jeju Island, Jang Mi-ran (37), has not been located for more than three months, and it has emerged that the officer who first took the missing-person report falsely closed the case. The controversy has since expanded to include allegations that records were deleted from the police's internal missing-persons system, and a dispute over the missing-person alert being issued with an incorrect "disability" designation, deepening public distrust in the police's initial response.

1. How Jang Mi-ran Went Missing -- A 14-Hour Gap in the "Golden Hours"

Jang left her home in Hallim-eup, Jeju City, around 10:15 p.m. on May 12 and has not been heard from since. She is known to have moved to Jeju about a decade ago and had been living with her partner. She was last captured on CCTV near her home, and no sightings have been confirmed since.

Her live-in boyfriend waited to see if she would return before filing the first missing-person report with police at 6:43 p.m. on May 15, two days later. At the time of the report, Jang's phone was still functioning normally, but it was powered off for the last time near Hallim Port at 9:44 a.m. on May 16, the following day. In other words, roughly 14 hours passed between the initial report and the phone being switched off -- the critical "golden hours" window.

Officers from the local police substation reportedly met the person who filed the report shortly after it came in, confirmed the details, and began an initial search based on the last known location of Jang's phone, checking nearby lodging facilities. However, this search did not continue for long.

Roughly 14 hours passed between the report and the phone being switched off… What police did -- or didn't do -- during that window later became the center of the controversy.

2. The Officer's Alleged False Report -- A Phone Call That Never Happened

The officer on night duty at Jeju Seobu Police Station, identified only as Officer A, a sergeant in his 30s, called Jang's boyfriend about two hours after the report was filed, at around 9:16 p.m. that same day. He told him, "I made contact with Jang. She doesn't want her location known," and then closed the 112 emergency case on his own authority. Officers who had been out searching were reportedly pulled back at that point. Jang's family was likewise told that her safety had been confirmed.

In cases involving missing adults, police sometimes confirm only that the person is alive without disclosing their exact location, if the missing person does not wish their whereabouts to be shared with family. Believing this was the case, Jang's family accepted Officer A's explanation and waited. But as time passed without any real contact from Jang, the situation began to look different.

When the family still could not reach her, they filed a second missing-person report in mid-July, prompting police to reopen the case. During the renewed investigation, it was confirmed through phone records that no actual call had ever taken place between Officer A and Jang at the time of the first report. Police booked Officer A on charges of dereliction of duty on August 14. He has reportedly maintained his original account -- that he did make contact with Jang at the time -- and denies the allegations.

The case sat effectively untouched for nearly two months… In that time, nearby public CCTV footage was automatically deleted once its retention period expired, creating a critical gap in tracing her movements.

3. Records Also Deleted From the Missing-Persons Profiling System

Beyond the closure of the 112 report itself, it has also come to light that Jang's records were removed from the management list of the "Missing Person File Profiling System," the police's internal database for tracking missing-person cases. In operation since 2011, the system manages missing persons' personal information along with report and search records, and also includes functions such as DNA testing and child fingerprint registration.

Questions about whether police handled the case appropriately have intensified after it emerged that the 112 report was closed just two and a half hours after it was filed, and that the related file was removed from the system's management list around the same time. A Jeju police official said, "We received notice from the National Police Agency to check the missing-person closure records for this case."

The issue reportedly came to light as the National Police Agency was in the process of improving the profiling system. The agency is currently modifying the system so that a criminal division chief must double-check the actions and closure reasons entered by the officer handling a missing-person case, with the update expected to be completed within a month. The Jeju Police Agency's Anti-Corruption and Economic Crime Investigation Unit is examining the full process, from the initial report and field search to the closure of the 112 case and the deletion of the profiling-system record.

This goes beyond a simple lapse in response… Questions are now being raised about the police's internal data-management practices themselves.

4. "Disability" Label Controversy in the Missing-Person Alert -- Family Says Response Came Too Late

Police did not issue a missing-person alert and switch the case to a public investigation until August 19. It later emerged that on the Safety Dream website, run by the National Police Agency's Center for Missing Children, Women and the Disabled, Jang's missing-person listing described her as having a "disability." The problem is that Jang is not a registered person with a disability.

Police explained that they classified the case under the disability category based on her boyfriend's statement that she had previously experienced depression. Under South Korea's current law on the protection and support of missing children and others, alerts can only be issued for specific categories -- children under 18, and people with intellectual, autism-spectrum, or mental disabilities, as well as dementia patients. As things stand, an alert of the same kind cannot be issued for a missing adult woman regardless of the level of risk involved. Police said that given how long the case had dragged on and the urgency of the search, they asked the family for cooperation and issued the alert using the disability-alert format.

The family, however, has rejected this explanation. According to them, it was only after Jang's cousin posted a homemade missing-person flyer to social media around 1 a.m. on August 19, drawing public attention to the case, that police finally issued the alert. Given that problems had already surfaced during the initial investigation, some have pointed out that being belatedly labeled as disabled in order to trigger the alert added yet another layer of pain for the family.

Under current law, adult missing persons fall outside standard alert categories… The case has become an example of the tension between rapid disclosure for safety and protecting an adult's personal information.

5. Current Search Status, Additional Allegations Against Officer A, and the Family's Appeal

Police have formed a dedicated task force to track down Jang. They are reviewing her card usage, phone records, and hospital treatment history, but no clear sign of activity has been confirmed since her phone signal was last detected near Hallim Port. In cooperation with the Coast Guard, police plan to deploy around 140 personnel a day, along with helicopters, drones, and cadaver dogs, to comb the area around Hallim Port and the surrounding coastline through August 26, and are investigating with all possibilities open, including that she left voluntarily or was the victim of a crime.

At the time she went missing, Jang was about 158 cm tall and roughly 44 kg, with a slim build and long straight hair. She was wearing a black hooded zip-up, khaki sweatpants, and white Nike slides, and had a gold bracelet on her wrist.

Separately, Officer A is under investigation in an unrelated case. He is accused of entering the women's restroom at the police station where he works on the 22nd of last month, a charge filed under the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes. He has been suspended from duty and is currently on standby assignment in the personnel affairs division.

As the investigation has dragged on, Jang's family has been distributing flyers with her description themselves and appealing for tips. However, a cousin of Jang's said on social media that the family has been enduring prank calls making moaning sounds and politically charged malicious comments, and asked that such secondary harassment stop. A police official said, "We are focusing our investigative resources on locating the missing person, and we will also clearly determine what happened during the handling of the first report and whether it was falsely reported."

The family's only wish is to learn whether Jang is alive and where she is… Separate from questions of police accountability, the search itself remains the most urgent task.

Category	Details
Disappearance	Left home in Hallim-eup, Jeju City around 10:15 p.m. on May 12; no contact since
First Report	Boyfriend filed 112 report at 6:43 p.m. on May 15; phone powered off near Hallim Port at 9:44 a.m. on May 16
False Closure Allegation	Officer A claimed "contact was made" 2 hours after the report and closed the case (no actual call record exists)
Additional Allegation	Records reportedly deleted from the Missing Person File Profiling System
Alert Controversy	Missing-person alert issued Aug. 19, incorrectly labeled "disabled"; family objects
Current Investigation	Officer A booked for dereliction of duty (Aug. 14); separately suspended over unrelated sexual-crime charge
Search Effort	~140 personnel/day, helicopters, drones, cadaver dogs; intensive search around Hallim Port through Aug. 26

[Summary] 5 Key Facts on the Jang Mi-ran Missing Person Case

• 1. A 14-hour golden window: About 14 hours passed between the first report and her phone being switched off.
• 2. A false report by the responding officer: Officer A claimed he had "made contact" with Jang and closed the case, despite no call ever having taken place.
• 3. Records allegedly deleted from the system: Along with closing the 112 report, her file was also removed from the Missing Person File Profiling System.
• 4. "Disability" labeling controversy: Jang, who is not disabled, was listed as such in the alert, prompting objections from her family.
• 5. No signs of activity for over three months: With no card, phone, or medical records surfacing, police are investigating every possibility as the search continues.

Related tags: Jeju missing person, Jang Mi-ran, police false report, dereliction of duty, missing person alert, missing person profiling system, Hallim Port, Jeju Seobu Police Station