"Missing Children"... Number of Youths with Unknown Residence Reaches 10,000

[Image source = Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Eun-young] It has been revealed that there are as many as 10,000 minors who have resident registration but whose whereabouts or life status are unconfirmed, referred to as 'residence unknown.' As the number of children neglected due to residence unknown status, untraceable whereabouts, or missing cases increases, calls are growing to pay attention to the 'care gap' among vulnerable children.

According to data submitted by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety to Lee Tan-hee, a member of the National Assembly's Education Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, as of June 2020, out of 8.94 million people aged 19 or younger, 9,763 were confirmed to have resident registration but their life status was unconfirmed, so-called 'residence unknown persons.'

The residence unknown registration system, implemented since October 2009, is a system that registers people whose residence status is unclear as 'residence unknown' instead of deleting their resident registration, thereby protecting their basic rights such as social safety nets and voting rights.

Meanwhile, from 2011 to August 2020, a period of about 10 years, a total of 116 children under 18 who went missing did not return to their families. In just this year up to August, 13,000 children under 18 went missing, and 76 of them have still not been found.

Additionally, at the beginning of this year, 18 children who did not attend the elementary school preliminary assembly are currently being traced by the police. Investigations are also underway for 3 preschool elementary students and 2 long-term absent middle school students.

[Image source = Office of Lee Tan-hee, Member of the Democratic Party of Korea]

Rep. Lee said, "The reason for the existence of the state is to protect the lives of its citizens. Finding one more missing citizen is the state's top priority," pointing out that a significant number of children neglected by the state are likely exposed to crimes such as child abuse.

He added, "Efforts must be made to find children who have disappeared from the social safety net through organic cooperation and task centralization among various ministries and local governments."

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