My Childhood Photo?... Missing Child from 20 Years Ago Reunited with Family Through CU

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] CU has become a bridge connecting long-term missing children who grew from 4-year-old kids into full-fledged adults with their families.

On the 6th of this month, CU announced that through the "Finding Missing Children Campaign," jointly conducted with the Child Rights Protection Agency, Ms. Kang Young-hee (a pseudonym), who had been missing for a long time, was dramatically reunited with her family after 20 years.

Ms. Kang Young-hee's family lost her in June 2000 (when she was 4 years old) and made every effort to find her, but until recently, there had been no significant progress.

After all personal efforts failed, the family registered Ms. Kang as a case management target with the Child Rights Protection Agency in August this year, and based on this information, BGF Retail began broadcasting her photo and information to over 14,000 CU stores nationwide starting last month.

The effect appeared in just one month. On the day before the Chuseok holiday, Ms. Kang Young-hee happened to visit a CU near her home and discovered that her childhood photo was displayed on the POS system.

Separated from her family at such a young age, Ms. Kang grew up in a child protection facility until adulthood without even knowing she was a missing child.

She only knew that she did not have parents, and was unaware that her family was desperately searching for her. She even contacted the Child Rights Protection Agency’s Missing Children Center to correct the record, stating she was not a missing child. During the verification process, she was dramatically reunited with her family.

Yoon Hye-mi, Director of the Child Rights Protection Agency, said, “It is a rare case where the missing child themselves, not the people protecting or around them, recognized the information and directly found their lost family,” and expressed gratitude, adding, “BGF Retail’s promotional support played a decisive role in finding the missing child.”

Since 2018, BGF Retail has been the first in the industry to sign a business agreement with the Child Rights Protection Agency and has consistently carried out activities to help the prompt return of long-term missing children and prevent disappearances and abductions by utilizing CU infrastructure, including ▲producing and distributing missing and abduction prevention posters ▲creating safety murals on school routes ▲broadcasting long-term missing children search content on payment terminals and kiosks.

In 2018, BGF Retail employees attracted attention by attaching bibs containing photos and information of missing children and completing a marathon with over 32,000 participants.

Recognizing such interest and contribution, BGF Retail was the only company in the industry to receive a plaque of appreciation at the 13th Missing Children’s Day event.

Min Seung-bae, Head of BGF Retail’s Business Support Office, said, “I am pleased that the campaign BGF Retail has sincerely conducted for years has borne fruit like a movie during difficult times,” and added, “Going forward, BGF Retail will continue to create various social values that only our company can produce by utilizing CU’s nationwide infrastructure.”

Meanwhile, since 2017, BGF Retail has been running the missing prevention campaign “iCU,” which safely protects lost children (including those with intellectual disabilities and dementia) at CU stores and hands them over to the police or family. Starting this year, a child abuse reporting function has been added to strengthen a comprehensive child protection network.

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