South Korean Police Seek Legal Basis to Track Missing Adults Like Children

South Korean police are seeking to prevent officers from closing missing-person cases on their own and want adults to receive protections similar to those available in child missing-person cases.

The proposals follow criticism of the police response to a missing-person case in Jeju. Acting National Police Chief Kim Jong-cheol chaired a meeting on September 4 to review missing-person reports, 112 calls and the handling of cases by police stations and local precincts.

Police are considering a dedicated organization to supervise cases and direct investigations at the regional level. Missing-person searches and investigations currently fall under the National Police Agency’s criminal affairs bureau, while related systems and policy belong to its public safety and transportation bureau. Police said they would also examine whether to place missing-person policy, searches and investigations under the National Office of Investigation.

The agency plans to establish a legal basis for checking and tracking information needed to find missing adults. Under current law, the category covering missing children and others is limited to people under 18, people with intellectual, autistic or mental disabilities, and dementia patients. Adults are generally treated as runaways until authorities confirm possible criminal involvement, limiting access to transit-card records and location information.

Beginning September 7, the police profiling system will require approval from a criminal division chief before an assigned officer can close a case. Existing internal rules already require supervisors to review the reason for closure and confirm a missing person’s safety in person, by video call or through reliable contact with family or a protective facility.

Police said an officer in the Jeju case falsely reported contacting the missing woman and closed the case about two and a half hours after the report. Investigators found that no superior had reviewed or approved the closure. Police also plan to require at least two officers to respond to missing-person cases at night and on holidays, initially coordinating with major-crimes teams while seeking additional staff. Kim said officials should examine weaknesses from the perspective of missing people and their families and verify that policy works in the field.

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Above all, it is important to identify and improve weaknesses from the perspective of missing people and their families, and to establish a system that checks whether policies are properly implemented in the field.