- Traveled all the way to Muju following a male student met online
- Cell tower location tracking and convenience store inquiries proved effective
- Police launch investigation into accompanying at-risk youth for potential additional crimes
A middle school girl reported missing in Nonsan, South Chungcheong Province, safely returned to her family in Muju, North Jeolla Province, 100km away. Cell phone base station tracking and swift cooperative police investigation served as crucial clues.
On the 22nd, the Muju Police Station in North Jeolla Province announced that they found the missing female student around 3 p.m. the previous day at a youth residence in Muju-gun. According to the investigation, the female student had traveled to Muju to meet male students she got to know while playing an online game. Earlier, around 1 p.m. on the 21st, the girl's mother reported her unreachability to 112, and the Nonsan Police Station, which first received the case, identified that her phone's last signal was in Muju-gun and requested cooperation from the jurisdictional station.
The detective team at the Muju Police Station intensively inquired around nearby convenience stores frequently visited by local youth. Securing a store owner's statement that "three youths visited the store on the night of the 20th" and closed-circuit (CC) TV footage, the police identified the companions as at-risk youths under local management. They then promptly searched the youth's residence and secured the female student's safety about two hours after the report was filed.
The female student was immediately handed over to her parents. Police authorities plan to conduct an intensive investigation into the youths who lured and accompanied her to see if there are any additional criminal charges.