Missing-Person Investigations Lack Infrastructure as Experts Call for Early Risk Screening

Nearly half of South Korea’s police stations do not have dedicated missing-person teams, according to figures cited in a report on weaknesses in the country’s investigative infrastructure. Of 261 stations nationwide, 114, or 43.7%, lack such a unit.

The organizational responsibility is divided. Missing-person teams generally sit within the National Police Agency’s National Office of Investigation and police crime divisions, but the law classifies missing-person searches and discoveries as matters for local autonomous police. A Seoul police officer described the teams’ position as unclear from the organizational structure itself.

Staffing is also a problem. Missing-person work receives limited personnel support, while rotations every one or two years make it difficult for officers to build specialized experience. Experts say police need a systematic early risk-classification system to identify, among tens of thousands of reports each year, cases most likely to become long-term disappearances, deaths or serious crimes.

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The missing-person team is unclear even in its organizational structure.

The issue has gained attention alongside proposed adult-missing-person legislation. Bills would define adults facing serious threats to life or physical safety, or possible suicide risks, as high-risk missing persons. Authorities would be able to track their locations and personal information in those cases. Even if the legislation passes, police would need a reliable process to identify high-risk cases as soon as reports arrive.

Current police guidelines call for risk assessments when a 112 emergency report is received and after a person remains undiscovered for 12 hours. But the system still relies heavily on individual officers’ judgment, and a recent case showed that a missing-person investigation could even be closed as a false report. Cho Jun-taek of the Korea Institute of Criminology and Justice said experts and experienced officers should develop a graded risk program that front-line police can use easily.

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Experts and police with extensive field experience should collaborate to develop a program that grades risk, and they should find ways for front-line officers to use it easily.