The case of not registering personal information of a sex offender remains unfinished and the statute of limitations has passed.

It was revealed during the investigation of the Jeju disappearance incident... Police and staff inspection

(Cheongju = Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Seong-min = It was belatedly known that the statute of limitations had expired because the investigative agency did not process a case of violation of the obligation to register personal information of a sex offender in a timely manner.

According to Yonhap News coverage on the 14th, the Cheongju District Prosecutors' Office ordered the Women and Youth Department of the Cheongju Sangdang Police Station to conduct a supplementary investigation into the case of alleged violation of the Special Act on the Punishment of Sexual Violence Crimes (Sexual Violence Punishment Act) by Mr. A, a person subject to personal information registration, in August 2021.

It was found that Mr. A, who served time in prison on charges of quasi-rape, was under investigation because he did not report this to the police within the deadline even though his cell phone number had changed after his release from prison, and he did not fulfill his obligation to visit the police station once a year and take a facial photo.

However, it was revealed that the five-year statute of limitations had expired without the case being concluded.

This fact was confirmed by the National Investigation Headquarters in the process of checking cases of omission and delay in supplementary investigations following the Jeju missing woman case.

The Chungbuk Police Agency conducted an inspection of Mr. B, the police officer in charge, and confirmed that he received a supplementary investigation order at the time and entered a supplementary investigation result notification into the Criminal Justice Information System (KICS) about two months later.

However, it has been reported that it is difficult to immediately confirm whether the investigation documents were actually sent to the prosecution via computer as the criminal justice information system has been reorganized.

It is currently unknown whether the prosecution did not close the case even after receiving the investigation documents, but as a result, it became impossible to punish sex offenders who did not fulfill their obligation to register personal information because the investigative agency did not properly check the status of the case.

Anyone who fails to fulfill the obligation to register personal information under the current law is subject to imprisonment for up to one year or a fine of up to 5 million won.

A police official said, "As it has not been confirmed whether the investigation documents were sent to the prosecution at the time, it is too early to conclude that it was Mr. B's fault." He added, "We are examining the computer system at the time to investigate the exact circumstances, including whether Mr. B was able to recognize that there was an unclosed case."