By Lee Ji-eun

Two family members were killed in Japan last year due to police ignoring their complaints, similar to a murder committed by a Korean-Chinese in Suwon, south of Seoul, early this month.

According to the local press, Yamashita Mitoko, 56, and her 77-year-old mother were killed by Tsutsui Gota, 27, who was the ex-boyfriend of Mitoko’s third daughter, 23, in Nagasaki Prefecture, Dec. 16.

Earlier, Mitoko repeatedly requested police in three prefectures _ Chiba, Mie and Nagasaki _ to help prevent the stalker from approaching her daughter but none of the stations responded to the calls to investigate him.

In particular, nine officers at Narashino police station in Chiba, who were supposed to investigate stalkers, went out on a three-day tour to Hokkaido, about 1,200km north of the prefecture, ignoring the requests.

Just one week after their tour, the victims were killed. The police officers are also suspected of having attempted to cover up their trip, amid a public uproar after the press reported it. Police claimed that “the tour and murder case were unrelated.”

“If the police officers isolated the stalker instead of touring, it was highly probable that this would not happen,” a spokesman said, adding that a total of 34 officers, including the chief of the police station in Chiba Prefecture, were disciplined for neglecting their duty.