75 Elementary School Entrants Unaccounted For... Ministry of Education and Police "Ongoing Tracking"

2023 Elementary School Preliminary Enrollment Results... 99.9% Confirmed Among 415,552 Students

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] It has been revealed that the whereabouts of 75 school-age children set to enter elementary school at the start of the new semester remain unknown.

On the 23rd, the Ministry of Education announced that, among the 415,552 school-age children nationwide who participated in the 2023 elementary school preliminary enrollment held from December 14 last year to February 18 this year, the whereabouts of 415,477 children, accounting for 99.9%, were confirmed.

Of the 75 children whose whereabouts were not confirmed, 73 were identified as having left the country, and investigations have been requested from local police in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The police plan to continue investigations regarding the two children presumed to be residing domestically.

This preliminary enrollment was conducted primarily in person to verify the children's whereabouts and safety, but non-face-to-face methods were also used considering the COVID-19 situation.

During the non-face-to-face preliminary enrollment, video calls were utilized to confirm the children's whereabouts.

For children who did not attend the preliminary enrollment, schools contacted them by phone, and local governments conducted home visits to ascertain their whereabouts and also checked immigration records.

The Ministry of Education plans to continuously monitor children whose whereabouts and safety remain difficult to confirm even after the March enrollment date.

Kim Tae-hoon, Education Welfare and Care Support Officer at the Ministry of Education, explained, "We will strive to confirm the whereabouts of all school-age children who need to receive education through organic cooperation with related agencies."

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