"Finding Missing Children Within the Golden Time" Rep. Im Hoseon Proposes Protection and Support Bill

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] Im Ho-seon, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, has taken the lead in proposing a partial amendment to the 'Act on the Protection and Support of Missing Children.' The main point is to reduce the time for tracking personal information when a child goes missing, enabling them to be found within the 'golden time' (2-3 hours).

According to the National Assembly on the 14th, the amended bill requires the police to obtain information such as CCTV footage, public transportation usage records, and credit card usage locations from related agencies to facilitate the swift discovery of missing children. It also stipulates that information about missing children cannot be used for purposes other than the intended one to protect personal information, and includes provisions for criminal penalties if there is refusal to protect missing children or to comply with requests for data verification by the police chief without justifiable reasons.

The current law mandates securing personal location information and communication verification data when a child goes missing, but there were limitations in confirming movement routes. Delays in tracking movement routes after disappearance inevitably led to missing the golden time, causing risks. According to Im Ho-seon's office, if the amendment passes, the police will be able to grasp a wide range of movement route information of the missing person from the initial stage of the missing report, thereby shortening the discovery time.

Im Ho-seon said, "If it takes a long time to find missing children, it causes danger, so the golden time must not be missed," adding, "We need to establish a legal basis to promptly receive the necessary information."

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