The Gyeonggi Northern Provincial Police Agency will conduct a full review of missing-person cases reported over the past three years or so. The move follows an order from the Korean National Police Agency directing all provincial police agencies to carry out blanket inspections after a case in Jeju in which the disappearance of Jang Mi-ran, 37, was found to have been fabricated.
The agency said on the 25th that it will review all 19,226 missing-person cases reported between January 2024 and the 22nd of this month.
The total breaks down into 8,993 cases involving missing children — a legal category that covers those under 18 as well as people with intellectual, autistic or psychiatric disabilities and dementia patients — and 10,233 cases involving missing adults aged 18 and over.
Police will first sort out the 19,033 cases that were closed without face-to-face contact and focus on whether they were handled properly. Where the handling is found to have been inadequate, the agency plans to order reinvestigations.
"We will inspect thoroughly so that missing persons are managed without any gaps," a police official said.
