False Alarm in Investigation of Police Murder

It turned out that the all-night long search at Donam-dong apartment complex Seungbook-Gu, Seoul, for Lee Hak-man, 35, who is wanted by police for murdering two police officers was a false alarm caused by an elementary school student using Lee’s residence registration number written on the “wanted leaflet” to log on to an internet site.

Hence, experts point out that the distribution of leaflets containing Lee’s residence registration number created confusion in the investigation.

Midnight Search Disturbance—

It all started on late August 3, when an elementary school student living in this area logged on to an internet game site using Lee’s registration number. Police thought that Lee had logged to the internet somewhere in the Donam-dong S apartment complex.

A police officer said, “Elementary school student Lee, 13, attending Donam-dong K Elementary School, got the leaflet with the registration number from middle school student Hah, 14, who got it from a nearby mall, and logged on to an internet portal site game café.”

He continued, “Student Lee downloaded a fighting game from this site and logged off after a few minutes. We traced the internet address, which Lee’s registration number was used to log on, and searched student Lee’s house and got his confession.” Nevertheless, the police do not plan to press criminal charges against Lee since he is still a minor.

As a result, about 300 police officers were summoned to search two apartment buildings for two days, and withdrew on 1 a.m. on August 4.

The police later explained, “We conducted a search in the area because at the time, student Lee had logged on as a person familiar with (suspect) Lee living in Incheon who had also logged on to the same site.”

Creating Confusion for the Investigation-

Criticism is rising that the police’s initial judgment was inappropriate. After police put Lee’s registration number in his wanted leaflet, there were many reports regarding the use of the internet with Lee’s number, but police were not seriously concerned.

For example, while the manhunt was going on during the afternoon of August 3, there were various reports to police investigation headquarters that an account using Lee’s registration number had been opened at the “S” chatting site and the “M” online game site. In addition, there were more similar reports the following day as well.

According to police, Lee is not using his mobile phone because he fears his position might be traced. Therefore the police is being criticized for causing confusion in the investigation by carelessly disclosing Lee’s registration number, which can be a useful clue to the investigation regarding internet connection, to the public.

In response, Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Detective Department Director Kim Byung-chul said, “Saying that putting the registration number on the leaflet was wrong is the same as saying the person that made the knife used in a murder is guilty,” adding, “We put his registration number despite the side effects because we judged that it would be more helpful, such as by bringing in more reports.”

Meanwhile in some police stations, police officers were busy re-collecting the leaflets with Lee’s registration number or covering the registration numbers.

Yi-Young Cho Jae-Dong Yu lycho@donga.com jarrett@donga.com