Seoul City Also 'Bewildered' by Mayor Park Won-soon's Disappearance... Senior Officials Grade 4 and Above on Emergency Standby

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] On the afternoon of the 9th, upon receiving the report of the disappearance of Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, the Seoul Metropolitan Government convened an emergency meeting chaired by Seo Jeong-hyeop, the First Deputy Mayor for Administration, to assess the situation.

A city official stated, "We only became aware of the situation after the police received a report this afternoon that Mayor Park was missing, which is very distressing," adding, "Senior officials at level 4 and above who received the emergency notification have gathered to prepare for any eventuality."

Another official said, "We were informed this morning that Mayor Park was not feeling well and did not come to work," and added, "There is nothing confirmed by the city hall yet, nor is there any official announcement to be made."

Earlier, the city had announced around 10:40 a.m. that Mayor Park had canceled all his schedules due to unavoidable circumstances. Originally, Mayor Park was scheduled to meet at 4:40 p.m. in his office with Kim Sa-yeol, Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Balanced National Development, to discuss regional balanced development with the theme of coexistence between Seoul and other regions.

According to police investigation, Mayor Park was confirmed to have left the mayoral residence located in Gahoe-dong, Jongno-gu, at around 10:44 a.m. At the time of going out, he was wearing a dark-colored jumper, black pants, gray shoes, a black hat, and carrying a black backpack.

Currently, Mayor Park's mobile phone is turned off, and the police are focusing their search near Gilsangsa Temple in Seongbuk-gu, where the last signal from his phone was detected.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.