Seoul Police and Orion Join Hands to Prevent Missing Children

Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency - Orion Corporation Missing Person Prevention Agreement
Insertion of Fingerprint Pre-registration QR Code on Orion Products

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Orion Corporation at 3 p.m. on the 19th to prevent missing children and others.

Through this MOU, both parties discussed cooperation activities to promote the effective "Fingerprint Pre-registration System" for the early detection and prevention of missing children and others (children under 18, individuals with intellectual, autism spectrum, or mental disabilities, and dementia patients).

To this end, Orion will insert fingerprint pre-registration QR codes and registration instructions on five types of products it sells, launching a public awareness campaign. The fingerprint pre-registration QR code links to the Safe Dream app, allowing users to directly pre-register their fingerprints via smartphone.

According to the police, as COVID-19 cases have decreased recently and face-to-face activities have increased, the number of missing person reports has sharply risen. In Seoul, reports of missing children and others increased by 7.1%, from 7,918 cases in 2020 to 8,479 in 2021. From January to August this year, the number of reports increased by 42.5% compared to the same period last year.

On the other hand, the number of fingerprint pre-registrations in Seoul sharply dropped from 75,769 in 2019 to 28,827 in 2020, then rebounded to 46,615 in 2021. From January to August this year, fingerprint pre-registrations reached 40,507, a 58.3% increase compared to the same period last year. Police statistics show that for children under 8 years old, the discovery time is 35 minutes when fingerprints are pre-registered, whereas it takes 81 hours if not registered.

Nevertheless, as of last month, only 766,821 out of 1,313,600 eligible individuals in Seoul have registered, resulting in a fingerprint pre-registration rate of 58.5%. Specifically, the rates are 61.3% for children under 18, 27.8% for individuals with intellectual disabilities, and 38.6% for dementia patients, indicating a need for more active fingerprint pre-registration efforts.

Kim Kwang-ho, Commissioner of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, stated, "Seoul Police and Orion Corporation will continue to promote cooperative activities to prevent missing children and others. Recently, fingerprint pre-registration can be easily done through the app without visiting a police station, so we urge citizens to actively participate."

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