'Son Jeongmin Missing Day' Han River Entry Witness Account... Could It Be a Clue to Solving the Case?

Investigation of 7 Fishing Party Witnesses
"Did Not Report, Believed It Was Not an Emergency"
Police Complete On-Site Verification...Identifying Person Who Entered Water

Unverified Information Spreads Online
"Avoid Speculation and Definitive Expressions"

On the 16th, when rain fell nationwide, participants at the "Peace Rally for the Late Son Jeong-min" held near the water taxi dock at Banpo Hangang Park in Seoul urged for a thorough investigation of the incident while holding umbrellas. Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] A witness has come forward claiming to have seen an unidentified man entering the river on the day university student Son Jeong-min (22), who went missing at Seoul’s Hangang Park, was later found dead. However, the identity of the man seen by these witnesses has not yet been determined, and the police are focusing their investigation on identifying him.

◆Fisherman Who Saw the Entry: "Splashing Sounds and 'Ah, Uh' Sounds" = According to the police on the 19th, the Seocho Police Station in Seoul received a report that seven people fishing together saw an unidentified man enter the Hangang River at around 4:40 a.m. on the day Son went missing, April 25. They are currently verifying whether this is related to the case.

The witnesses were fishing about 80 meters away from the suspected entry point near the water taxi dock from around 10 p.m. on April 24 until about 5 a.m. the next day. The police conducted interviews with the witnesses from June 12 to 14.

Among the seven witnesses, one specified the time the unidentified man entered the water as around 4:40 a.m. He said he took night photos of Jamsu Bridge and Hannam Bridge at 4:33 a.m., smoked a cigarette to stop fishing, and then saw a person submerged up to the knees. Considering the cigarette took about five minutes, he estimated seeing the man enter the water at around 4:40 a.m. Another witness identified the person as male based on hairstyle and physique. The location where the man entered the water was confirmed to be about 10 meters from where Son’s friend A was last found asleep at around 4:20 a.m.

To verify the credibility of the report, the police also conducted an on-site investigation from June 17 to 18. Five of the witnesses directly saw a man walking into the river near the Banpo Hangang Park water taxi dock as if swimming, and two heard splashing sounds along with "Ah, Uh" sounds. The police recreated the scene at the same time and place where the witnesses had been sitting, and reportedly the sounds could be heard during the reenactment.

The witnesses did not see the man come out of the water and did not report the incident to the fire department or other authorities. A police official said, "The man gradually submerged from the knees down and swam in a breaststroke-like manner, so they did not think it was an emergency rescue situation and did not report it."

◆Need to Identify the Unidentified Person Who Entered the Water = For the witness reports to provide a breakthrough in this case, identifying the unidentified man who entered the water is a priority. The police believe there were also witnesses near the left side of the entry point toward Banpo Bridge and Jamsu Bridge and are searching for people captured as dots on the CCTV footage from the "Rabbit Hole" closed-circuit cameras. They are also focusing on identifying six men who remain missing among 63 missing person reports filed with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency between April 24 and 25. The police collected soil samples from the socks Son was wearing at the time and requested the National Forensic Service to compare them with soil from the Hangang riverside grass, the boundary between land and water, and soil beneath the water surface. They also had soil analysis conducted on clothing submitted by A.

Along with witness reports, the police are tracking Son’s movements after 3:38 a.m. on the day he went missing using black box footage from 154 vehicles parked at the Hangang Park and 45 nearby CCTV cameras. Multiple witnesses testified that they saw Son and A lying on a mat or vomiting together at the park from 2 a.m. to 3:38 a.m. on the day of the disappearance. A witness also confirmed seeing A lying asleep on a grassy slope with a bag at around 4:20 a.m. and waking him up, but Son was not seen.

On the 16th, when rain fell nationwide, participants are commemorating the late Son Jeong-min at the "Peace Rally for the Late Son Jeong-min" held near the water taxi dock at Banpo Hangang Park in Seoul. Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

The search for A’s mobile phone, which remains missing, is ongoing. On the day Son went missing, April 25, A was seen holding Son’s phone when meeting with Son’s family. Son’s phone was not found on him when his body was recovered from the Hangang River. The police are continuing the search for A’s phone with the Navy.

Son went missing after drinking with A near the Banpo Hangang Park water taxi dock from around 11 p.m. on April 24 until about 2 a.m. the next day. His body was found underwater in the Hangang River not far from the disappearance site on April 30. The autopsy indicated drowning as the presumed cause of death.

◆"Avoid Definitive Statements Amid Speculation" = Meanwhile, various speculations have emerged online regarding this case. One YouTuber claimed that while playing the online game League of Legends, a conflict arose between Son and A, and that three men caught on CCTV running were involved in assaulting Son. The term "Golden Gun," which caused controversy, was said to be related to the online game.

Earlier, the police stated that "Golden Gun" likely refers to a hip-hop singer. They also explained that the three men are a high school senior and two middle school students from the same neighborhood, and there was no fight with anyone. The men told the police they were just running around Hangang Park in the early morning and did not clearly remember if anyone was with them at the time.

Professor Im Myung-ho of Dankook University’s Department of Psychology said about the online speculation, "It seems some citizens are emotionally projecting this case as if it were their own family, which is why such reactions are occurring. Since the police investigation results have not yet been released, avoiding speculation or definitive statements can prevent secondary victims."

A police official said, "From the early stages of the investigation, unverified facts have been spreading online as if they were true, causing unnecessary confusion and dispersing investigative resources, which has made the investigation somewhat difficult. We want to assure the public that we are doing our best to verify the victim’s movements before death and ask that people trust the police investigation and wait for the results rather than raising unconfirmed suspicions."

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