Contains personal information such as name, date of birth, and photos
Police investigate the initial source of the leak
There is controversy after a wanted poster, which was intended for internal police use only to apprehend a suspect, was distributed online.
The police are investigating the source of the leak after an internal wanted poster containing the personal information of the Daejeon dating murder suspect was indiscriminately spread online.
The police's internal document containing personal details of suspect A (in their 20s) in the Daejeon dating murder case was posted on an online community and social networking services (SNS).
This document was a wanted poster shared exclusively within the police for the purpose of apprehending the suspect.
It included the suspect A's name, date of birth, identification photo, full-body photo, and details about their appearance at the time of escape, among other personal information.
Although the document was not for public release and contained warnings such as "For police use only" and "Strictly forbidden to leak externally," it was nevertheless widely circulated online for unknown reasons.
On an online forum with 300,000 members, the wanted poster post has been up for two days but has not been deleted.
Individual B, who received the wanted poster via a group chat, said, "The document was posted in the group chat, and it seems that people have already shared it widely with acquaintances, so it has spread as much as it could."
This situation is highly likely to lead to issues such as the leakage of investigative secrets or violations of the Personal Information Protection Act.
Lee Woonghyuk, a professor of police studies at Konkuk University, stated, "If the leak occurred while the investigation was ongoing, it can be considered a matter of investigative confidentiality, so sanctions for leaking investigative secrets may be imposed. Also, since the suspect's personal information was disclosed in violation of procedures before any official decision to make it public, the initial distributor is highly likely to face administrative disciplinary action."
The police are requesting cooperation from the platforms where the document was posted to have it deleted, while also investigating the source of the leak.
A police official said, "This was an internal document not meant for external distribution, but it seems there were difficulties in controlling it 100%. We are identifying the initial source of the leak, and since this could be an issue under the Personal Information Protection Act, we ask that the public refrain from sharing it further."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
