Prosecutors and police are conducting simultaneous raids on the National Police Agency and the National Investigation Agency to investigate allegations of evidence tampering related to the Jang Yoon-ki case.
The Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office began its search at 6:15 a.m. on July 21, focusing on allegations of leaking official secrets and evidence tampering by police in the Jang Yoon-ki case.
The targets of the search include the National Investigation Agency's Serious Crimes Investigation Division, the Women and Youth Crimes Investigation Division, and various departmental offices and affiliated organizations.
The police's special investigation team into the Jang Yoon-ki case also commenced its search at 7:30 a.m. at the offices of the Serious Crimes Investigation Division.
Prosecutors arrived first to begin the search, while police monitored the situation before proceeding with their own actions.
Both agencies obtained individual search warrants for the operation.
The police explained that most of the items being seized are digital materials, allowing for data duplication, which means that even if prosecutors execute their warrants first, they can still secure the same materials.
A representative from the National Investigation Agency is currently known to be a witness in the case.
Legal experts have noted that it is unusual for a search warrant to be issued without any current officials from the National Investigation Agency being charged.
This raid follows testimonies from investigating officers indicating that the National Investigation Agency directed the separation of investigations into the murder case and past sexual assault cases.
There were discussions about merging the investigation with a sexual assault case reported to police in another region, but the case was assigned to the Women and Youth Crimes Investigation Division per the National Investigation Agency's directive.
Prosecutors and police believe there was intentional negligence in the investigation of the Jang Yoon-ki case, including failure to secure key evidence and ignoring significant circumstances, and are investigating the involvement of the supervisory chain in the case.
Jang Yoon-ki was arrested and indicted in May for the murder of 16-year-old Lee Chae-won in Gwangju, Jeollanam-do, under charges including murder and sexual violence.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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