SEOUL, July 21 (Yonhap) -- Prosecutors and police separately raided the national police investigation headquarters Tuesday as part of their probes into allegations of police mishandling of a high-profile murder case in the southwestern city of Gwangju, officials said.

The investigators were seeking to seize evidence related to the murder investigation, which has faced growing controversy over allegations that police in Gwangju leaked investigative material to the suspect's father, who is also a police officer in the city.

Officials from the Gwangju District Prosecutors Office executed a search-and-seizure warrant at the National Police Agency's National Office of Investigation before a special police team tasked with investigating the allegations carried out its warrant.

Prosecutors sought to secure evidence to confirm allegations that police leaked investigative material and destroyed evidence related to the murder case.

The special police team, on the other hand, sought to seize records to check whether the police investigation headquarters intervened in the case.

The suspect in the murder case, 23-year-old Jang Yoon-gi, is accused of killing a 16-year-old female high school student and attempting to kill a 17-year-old male student on May 5.

Following mounting controversy over the police investigation, the government made a public apology last week, vowing thorough reforms to the police investigation system.

This file photo, taken May 14, 2026, shows murder suspect Jang Yoon-gi (C) leaving a police station in the southwestern city of Gwangju, about 270 kilometers south of Seoul, to be transferred to the prosecution. (Yonhap)

yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr
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