Tributes Pour In for ‘Peter Pan Dad’ as Supporters Vow to Continue His Neverland Dream

Jeon Gyeong-cheol, known as the “Peter Pan dad,” spent his final year searching for a place where his adult son could live after he was gone. When Jeon died on the 5th, tributes quickly turned into calls to carry forward the Neverland dream he had pursued until the end.

Jeon, 64, had cared alone for his 27-year-old son, Jewon, for more than 20 years. He called his son Peter Pan because his mental age remained around two and he resembled the boy who never grows up in Neverland. After doctors diagnosed Jeon with terminal liver cancer in April last year, he visited more than 1,000 facilities over the following year, trying to find somewhere his son could stay. Rejections continued until his story appeared on MBC’s investigative program “True Story Investigation Team” in March, after which he found a facility willing to take his son.

Jeon then made it his goal to create Neverland, a facility for the many other “Peter Pans” living with severe developmental disabilities. He worked intensely on establishing a social welfare foundation, and on June 24 supporters agreed to launch a committee to establish the Peter Pan Foundation. A project director wrote that the process moved rapidly over the following two weeks, even as Jeon continued working despite his declining health. “Even when several people urged him to rest, his passion simply would not diminish,” the director wrote.

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Even when several people urged him to rest, his passion simply would not diminish.

Messages on Jeon’s Brunch page and on X said his death should not remain only an occasion for mourning. One user pointed to the reality that a father had been forced to raise more than 400 million won personally to create a foundation, arguing that adults with severe disabilities can still have nowhere to go when their parents die. Families raising children with developmental disabilities also promised to help complete the remaining procedures.

Health and Welfare Minister Jung Eun-kyeong said the government would announce a cross-government policy this week so families would not bear the full weight of care. “We will carry forward the deep resonance that Peter Pan dad gave our society through policies for people with developmental disabilities and their families,” she wrote on X.

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We will carry forward the deep resonance that Peter Pan dad gave our society through policies for people with developmental disabilities and their families.