August 2026, the last week of summer, still the peak of the holiday season.

Jeju Island, long celebrated as a popular getaway for both Koreans and foreign tourists, has made headlines for chilling reasons: 15 people have gone missing in recent months, and the remains of at least four have been found.

The island's police force is going through what are arguably the most disgraceful days in its history.

The central victim in the case is a 37-year-old woman named Jang Mi-ran. She was last seen on May 12 leaving her home, and a missing person report was filed with the police on May 15.

The officer assigned to the case closed it within hours. According to his account, he had contacted the woman and she confirmed she was safe. Subsequent inquiries revealed that the conversation likely never took place — phone records showed no connection between the officer and the missing woman.

Due to police negligence, critical time was lost. Footage from 118 surveillance cameras in the Hallim district, where the woman disappeared, was not requested in time and was automatically erased after the 30-day storage period expired.

On August 24, 2026, 104 days after her disappearance, a body believed to be Jang Mi-ran was discovered on a palm plantation roughly one kilometer from her residence. An inspection found no signs of violent death. But forensic experts say that determining the cause of death with 100 percent certainty after 104 days is very difficult, if there are no clearly broken bones and the body has undergone ordinary decomposition.

On July 2, the same police officer received a report about a missing man over the age of 60. He again closed the case using the same approach, claiming he had made contact with the individual. The man was found dead on August 22 — more than 50 days after he vanished.

Since August 22, the bodies of four missing individuals have been found on the island. These include Jang Mi-ran and the man mentioned above, as well as a man in his 70s and another person whose gender has not even been reported.

The officer who closed the cases had been working in the missing persons unit since March 2025. During that time, he had closed 298 cases, and the police have now launched a full review of all those files.

The officer was detained on suspicion of dereliction of duty, falsifying information, and obstructing the work of state agencies. However, the court ruled his emergency arrest unlawful and released him.

Koreans are shocked by the actions of a police officer who closed 298 cases without bothering to properly investigate them. South Korean President Lee Jae-myung has ordered a review not only of the officer's conduct but of the entire missing persons search system. Inspections have already begun in Seoul, where authorities are now re-examining 92,800 previously closed missing person cases to determine whether similar instances of negligence occurred.

The scandal has sparked widespread public outrage. According to Jeju police data, from 2023 to July 2026, there were 2,914 reports of missing adults and 1,341 reports of missing children over the same period. Currently, 15 adults remain unaccounted for; the rest have either been found or their fate has been determined.

A map showing the locations of disappearances has been published, with the earliest incident dating back to 2021.

Naturally, Koreans have begun sharing details of their own trips to Jeju online, with many noting that locals worry about tourists and often warn them to be careful when out in the evening.

«Once, when I was traveling to Jeju, I went to a famous barbecue spot in the evening. We ate and were about to head back, when the owner, a woman, came out and asked: «Are you walking?» I said yes, it's close to where we're staying. She said: «No, no, you can't. I'll drive you,» and kept insisting. I tried to refuse her kindness, but eventually got in. As she drove us, she said: «There aren't many people around here anymore. There have been a lot of murders, and plenty of missing persons. But it's all being covered up.» Then she added: «But all the missing ones are tourists. Tourists, and they look like tourists, so it seems they're being specifically targeted.»»

It is worth noting that the Jeju dialect is markedly different from the dialects of other regions in Korea, making it easy to identify an outsider.

Whereas before people argued that Jeju was too expensive and that Koreans could even fly to Japan more cheaply, now the tourism industry is beginning to suffer from a growing perception of insecurity. Some locals even advise against walking alone, even during the daytime.

This has also affected travel and food bloggers creating content on the island. Under their YouTube videos, comments are increasingly appearing along the lines of: «If you're going to Jeju, be prepared to go missing,» «Be careful not to die under suspicious circumstances,» «Jeju Island has become like Cambodia,» and «You'd be better off making content about finding bodies on Jeju.»

Many are convinced that the police were aware of the disappearances all along but concealed the information from the public — to what end remains unclear. Some suspect political interests on the part of island authorities, economic concerns over falling tourism revenue or real estate values, or perhaps even the direct will of some mysterious behind-the-scenes manipulator.

It has also been pointed out that the surveillance footage was lost because the case was closed by a negligent officer, and reopening it to retrieve the recordings is no longer possible, as the right to supplementary investigation has recently been abolished in South Korea without any alternative mechanism being put in place. Yet the ability to reopen and re-examine a case was precisely the safeguard against incompetence on the part of a single officer — as in the Jeju case. Now, once a case is closed, there will be no review.

The matter concerns amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code and the removal of provisions that directly empowered prosecutors to conduct investigations. The key article previously stated that «prosecutors investigate crimes, criminal facts and evidence.» The new version completely removes the prosecutor as a subject of investigation, effectively abolishing the prosecution service as an institution.

The law fully revokes the prosecution's authority to conduct both direct and supplementary investigations. Instead, prosecutors may now only request that the police conduct additional investigations, but cannot carry them out themselves.

These amendments were passed by the National Assembly on July 31, approved by the State Council on August 4, and signed by the president. They will take effect on October 2, 2026.

From October 2, the prosecution service will be abolished (farewell to the handsome prosecutor characters in K-dramas), and two new bodies will be created: the Serious Crimes Investigation Office (investigation) and the Public Prosecution Service (maintaining state prosecution).

From now on, criminal investigations in South Korea will work as follows:

The police will handle (initiate, investigate, conduct interviews and forensic examinations, and refer to court) the majority of ordinary criminal cases, including standard homicides.

The Serious Crimes Investigation Office, a new agency replacing the prosecution, will investigate the most serious offenses: corruption, economic crimes, defense industry-related crimes, drug offenses, insurrection and treason, and cybercrimes.

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials will separately investigate senior government officials.

President Lee Jae-myung believes that over the decades, the prosecution had concentrated too much power in its hands and repeatedly used it for political persecution — including investigations against Lee himself.

Read more: South Korean President Vows Confiscation of Property from Pro-Japanese Collaborators' Descendants

It is still unclear who will conduct independent oversight of these agencies in place of the prosecution. The police have internal investigation departments, but when any body investigates itself, there are legitimate doubts about the integrity of such a review. Only after the Jeju scandal did Lee Jae-myung call for the creation of a separate agency to handle police reform and oversight. When and by whom it will be established remains uncertain.

Source 1, 2, 3