Police identify 45 cases involving officers’ family members as suspects after alleged Gwangju murder case
A nationwide review found 45 cases involving police officers’ family members as suspects, prompting new recusal rules after fairness concerns in the Gwangju murder investigation.
Yoo Jae-seong, acting commissioner general of the Korean National Police Agency, attends a videoconference of senior police officials at the agency’s headquarters in Seodaemun District, western Seoul, on Aug. 4.NEWS1
A total of 45 cases nationwide have been identified in which family members of active-duty police officers were involved as suspects or persons under investigation.
Police are reviewing how to apply conflict-of-interest recusal rules, along with reporting procedures and criteria for transferring cases, after analyzing 117 family-related cases identified in a nationwide review conducted last month, according to data.
The data was submitted by the Korean National Police Agency (KNPA) to Rep. Chung Choon-saeng of the Rebuilding Korea Party, a member of the National Assembly’s Public Administration and Security Committee, on Sunday.
Details on the types of the 117 cases were also disclosed for the first time.
By the status of those involved in the cases, police officers’ family members were suspects or persons under investigation in 45 cases, while they were victims, complainants, accusers or petitioners in 72 cases.
By family relationship, 47 cases involved direct ascendants, 37 involved direct descendants and 33 involved spouses.
Most of the family-related cases were assigned to local police stations with jurisdictional ties to the cases, with 111 handled by such stations. Six cases were assigned to provincial or metropolitan police agencies.
Only one case was subject to a prosecution investigation. The police officer involved reportedly handled a case directly in which a family member had fallen victim to voice phishing.
The Korean National Police Agency in Seodaemun District, western SeoulNEWS1
Of the remaining cases, 44 have been or are scheduled to be transferred to other police agencies, while 15 are under review for possible transfer. A total of 32 cases were closed or nearing closure, while 26 were not transferred because they were deemed to pose no risk of undermining the fairness of the investigation.
In addition, it has been confirmed that the police do not separately manage cases in the last 10 years where police officers were investigated for handling or intervening in cases involving themselves, their spouses, lineal ascendants and descendants, siblings, or other relatives or acquaintances.
Recent police records show that recusal or disqualification procedures were applied in just nine cases in 2020, 35 in 2021, 18 in 2022, none in 2023, five in 2024, three in 2025 and seven in the first half of this year.
There were a total of 77 recusal or disqualification cases over the past six years and six months, fewer than the 117 family-related cases identified in the latest nationwide review focusing specifically on such cases.
The KNPA said it held a meeting of its task force on follow-up measures to the revised Criminal Procedure Act on Friday and decided to introduce conflict-of-interest recusal rules in early September for cases involving the spouses, direct ascendants or direct descendants of police officers.
Under the rules, a case will not be investigated directly by a police agency where a police officer who is a family member of a person involved in the case currently works or has worked within the past three years. Instead, the case will be transferred to another police station for investigation. Pre-booking investigations will also be covered by the rules.
Jang Yun-gi is transferred to the prosecution from the Gwangju Seobu Police Station on May 14.NEWS1
The measure comes after the Jang Yun-gi case raised concerns about the fairness of investigations involving police officers’ family members. Police plan to initially implement the measure through internal guidelines before establishing a legal basis for it.
Jang was indicted after allegedly killing a high school student, Lee Chae-won, in Gwangsan District, Gwangju, at around 12:10 a.m. on May 5 in an attempt to commit a sexual crime. He is also accused of stabbing a male high school student who ran to the scene after hearing the victim's screams.
Prosecutors and police are also separately continuing to investigate allegations that Jang’s case received preferential treatment from the Gwangsan Police Station because Jang's father is a mid-ranking police officer. Authorities are also examining allegations that members of the original investigative team attempted to tamper with evidence.
BY CHO MUN-GYU [kim.jiye@joongang.co.kr]
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
