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Jang Mi-ran case leaves Korea asking how to handle missing adults_我的网站

A |     Most missing adults are found quickly, but gaps in the system can have deadly consequences                   Police search for Jang Mi-ran, a 37-year-old reported missing in May, at a palm farm in Hallim-eup, Jeju Island. Jang was found dead Monday. (Yonhap)The death of Jang Mi-ran after her missing-person case was allegedly closed on false grounds has renewed scrutiny of South Korea’s system for finding missing adults.South Korea tracks missing-person reports involving adults, but ordinary adult cases are not covered by the same legal framework that allows nationwide alerts, certain forms of location tracking and DNA testing for children, people with specified disabilities and people with dementia.More than 70,000 adults were reported missing each year between 2022 and 2025. Most cases were resolved quickly, with 89.4 percent closed within a day last year and 99 percent within a month, according to National Police Agency data.Of the 70,591 adult missing-person cases closed in 2025, 931 involved people who were found dead.Jang’s case has drawn attention to what can happen when a case is closed before a missing person’s safety has been confirmed.A Jeju police officer surnamed Bu is accused of falsely telling Jang’s boyfriend and family that she was safe but did not want to be found. Police have said they found no records showing that Bu contacted her.Bu is accused of making a similar false claim in another missing-person case involving a man in his 60s, who was also later found dead.The cases have revived a long-running debate over whether police need stronger legal authority to search for missing adults, and how far those powers should extend without infringing on privacy.Gaps in adult casesJang’s cousin reportedly went to Seoul’s Nowon Police Station on July 19 to request another search for her, about two months after Bu allegedly told the family that Jang had been contacted and was safe.Nowon officials reportedly questioned whether Jang, as an adult, might simply have left voluntarily.The high rate of quick case closures has raised concern that some adult cases are treated as routine disappearances. Bu handled and closed 298 missing-person cases during roughly 17 months on a missing-person team.Meanwhile, the number of cases ending in death is not insignificant. Between 2016 and 2025, 13,639 missing adults were eventually found dead, an average of about 1,364 a year. Thousands of long-term cases also remain unsolved.                   Police search for Jang Mi-ran, a 37-year-old reported missing in May, at a harbor in Jeju Island. Jang was found dead on Monday. (Yonhap)Police have fewer tools in ordinary adult cases.Nationwide missing-person alerts are generally sent out only for minors, people with certain disabilities and people with dementia. Of the 3,126 people found last year under that system, 696, or 22.3 percent, were located after reports from members of the public who had seen an alert.Police searches and investigations accounted for 39.2 percent of discoveries, according to a report jointly submitted by the National Police Agency and the Ministry of Health and Welfare.Ordinary missing adults generally do not qualify for such alerts.Police have used DNA testing since 2004 to identify missing children and other eligible groups. Ordinary adult cases are not covered by the same DNA collection and comparison framework.The scale of adult disappearances is also larger. About 70,800 adult missing-person reports were filed in 2025, more than twice the roughly 29,600 involving children.Legislative pushSouth Korea enacted the Act on the Protection and Support of Missing Children and Others in 2005, establishing the legal basis for many of the search tools used today. There is no equivalent comprehensive law for ordinary missing adults.Lawmakers have made repeated attempts to fill that gap.A bill proposed in 2024 by Rep. Lim Ho-seon of the Democratic Party of Korea would establish a separate information system for missing adults and give police clearer authority to obtain location and travel information.The proposal remains pending at the National Assembly alongside similar bills.Supporters argue that broader powers could help police act more quickly when an adult is in danger. Opponents warn that the same powers could be used to track people who have deliberately chosen to leave home or cut off contact.Adults generally have the right to decide where they live and whom they remain in contact with, making the issue more complicated than cases involving children or vulnerable people.Police can already obtain location information in some cases involving signs of imminent danger. The unresolved question is whether that authority should be expanded for missing adults more broadly.。

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