Nationwide alert proved effective in nearly all all missing person cases, but are not issued for most adults

Police officials are seen around a palm tree in Jeju Island, where the body of a missing woman was found on Aug. 24. The 37-year-old victim named Jang Mi-ran was reported missing in May, but the police officer handling the case is believed to have closed it under false grounds. (Yonhap)
Police officials are seen around a palm tree in Jeju Island, where the body of a missing woman was found on Aug. 24. The 37-year-old victim named Jang Mi-ran was reported missing in May, but the police officer handling the case is believed to have closed it under false grounds. (Yonhap)

Over 90 percent of all missing person cases that went unsolved since 2022 involved adults, according to a National Police Agency data released Sunday, as disappearance and death of a Jeju woman brought the country's system under public scrutiny.

There were 1,727 unsolved missing person cases from 2022 to July, this year, according to the NPA data revealed by Rep. Lim Ho-seon of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea. Of those, 1,596 were adults without special needs.

South Korea sends out nationwide alerts and uses location tracking, DNA testing for children, people with mental disorders and those with certain disabilities, including dementia, but the system does not apply to other adults.

This was brought to light in the recent disappearance and death of Jang Mi-ran, a 37-year-old woman who went missing in May and was found dead on Aug. 24. Her case was closed by a police officer surnamed Bu, who was found to have improperly closed another missing person case for a man in his 60s.

The 60-something victim was also found dead last month. Bu told police that he closed the cases because of an excessive workload.

Jang's death sparked a nationwide furor, particularly after it was revealed that she died just 400 meters away from where she lived.

Lim argued that emergency alerts played a crucial role in solving missing person cases. The alert was issued for 11,881 children and people with mental disorders, dementia or other disabilities since 2022, and 99.6 percent of them were found.

In Jang's case, the nationwide alert was issued only when the police registered her as having a mental illness, even though her hospital records show she was never treated for the depression she supposedly had.

"An overwhelming majority of the unsolved missing people are adults, yet there are no legal grounds to issue alerts for them," Lim said.

"We need a legal framework and standards to promptly notify alerts in missing adult cases, when the person is thought to be under imminent threat such as being subject to crime or posing suicide risk."


minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com