"Clients wouldn't come all the way here if they weren't utterly desperate. Most of their grievances are quite similar."

Woo, a private detective and former police officer, said in a phone interview on the 26th that requests to "find missing family members" continue to pour in, pointing out that this stems from structural issues within the police force.

Woo worked as a violent crimes detective and spent about five years on the missing persons investigation team at a police station in Seoul.

"People looking for missing persons want to know specific addresses, but adults are classified as runaways. Even if the police track down their whereabouts and make contact, they just report that 'he or she lives in such-and-such place and shows no particular signs of trouble,' and leave it at that," he said.

He added, "This is because under current laws, if the individuals do not wish for their whereabouts to be disclosed, the police cannot reveal them. From the perspective of the person searching, they are simply told 'they are doing fine,' which leads them to complain that filing a report was pointless."

According to industry sources, hiring a private detective to track down someone costs anywhere from 3 million to 8 million won.

Though not a small sum, those exhausted by waiting and losing faith in the police are willing to bear the cost, sources say.

"Detectives cannot check communication records like the police can, but we can spend time conducting inquiries centered around schools attended and former workplaces," Woo said. "It is difficult for the police to do that. They receive four to five runaway or missing person reports a day, and when all those cases are assigned, it is impossible to work with deep focus."

Kim, another private detective who is also a former police investigator, said, "Perhaps due to the heavy media coverage recently, requests to find missing persons have increased significantly." He added, "In particular, they have roughly doubled over the past two to three weeks."

"Tracking down missing persons is high-intensity work. Based on various records provided by families, I've spent weeks staking out specific locations blindly to find someone, and it was tough," he explained. "For the police, it is an overwhelming burden. The police missing persons teams are already in less-preferred departments, and staffing is thin."

He explained, "The police can track locations via mobile phones, but due to personal privacy issues, they do not disclose this even to the person who filed the report. It is bound to be frustrating. Not long ago, I took a request to find a family member who vanished 20 years ago, and upon checking, found their resident registration number had been revoked. Even for private detectives, this kind of case is not easy."

Analyses have consistently been raised that the police's inability to actively intervene in adult missing persons cases is due to inadequate systems and operational shortcomings.

The police have classified and managed missing adult reports as "runaways."

Consequently, even when reports are filed, there are limitations to conducting active searches such as location tracking or DNA testing and comparison.

Article 16 of the "Rules on Handling Cases of Missing Children and Runaways," which specifically regulates these duties, stipulates that if a "runaway" refuses, details allowing their whereabouts to be known must not be notified to the guardian.

However, in cases where criminal involvement of the runaway is suspected, investigations must be initiated promptly.

A 30-year veteran police officer in a regional office who has handled missing persons cases involving both children and adults until recently stated, "Under current laws, minors have a duty of protection, so face-to-face confirmation is the principle when a missing person report is filed. However, when adults who left home of their own accord protest by asking why we are interfering, we have nothing to say."

"When adults show free will, we tend to respond passively due to criticisms about infringing on personal information and privacy," the officer added. "In situations where it is hard to immediately distinguish whether it is a disappearance or a runaway, or whether they left on their own or suffered an accident, it is not easy to decide whether or not to launch a missing persons investigation."

Even when a case is properly deemed to require a missing persons investigation or search rather than a simple runaway, issues of manpower shortages and heavy workloads surface, according to reports.

The abolition of the conscripted police system in 2017 led to the disappearance of some 25,000 auxiliary police officers from regional offices starting in 2023, which increased the operational burden and is also cited as a structural backdrop making active responses to missing persons cases difficult.

Kang Dong-wook, an emeritus professor of law at Dongguk University who published a paper last year pointing out these problems and suggesting the use of private personnel such as detectives, noted, "Leaving missing adults listed as simple runaways creates a structure where investigation responsibilities are evaded."

Professor Kang expressed concern, saying, "With the issues surrounding personal information handling intertwined and unresolved, and as the police take on investigative powers going forward, there is a possibility that missing persons cases will be even more neglected. Structurally, cases with false closures may continue to happen in the future."

(Photo: Yonhap News)