The heartfelt wishes of families of long-term missing children are packed into delivery boxes... 'Hope Tape' Campaign

Hope tape printed with information of 28 long-term missing children. / Photo by the National Police Agency

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[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwanju] The National Police Agency announced on the 24th that, ahead of "Missing Children’s Day" on May 25, it will conduct a long-term missing children search campaign called "Hope Tape" in collaboration with Cheil Worldwide, Korea Post, and Hanjin Express.

Hope Tape is packaging box tape printed with information about missing children. Parcels with this tape attached will be delivered nationwide to raise public awareness about long-term missing children.

In the past two years, the reported discovery rate of missing children has been 99.6%. With response systems such as fingerprint pre-registration and missing alert systems in place, missing children are being found quickly. However, there are still 661 children missing for over a year, of which 638 have been missing for more than five years, accounting for the majority.

A delivery box with a "Hope Tape" containing information about long-term missing children attached. / Photo by the National Police Agency

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Reflecting this, Hope Tape is printed with an "age-progressed composite sketch" that recreates the estimated current appearance based on past photos of missing children. In 2016, there was a case where a missing person from 38 years ago was found using such a composite sketch. The surface also includes a QR code for missing prevention, linking to the installation page of the "Safe Dream App," which allows easy pre-registration of fingerprints and other information for missing prevention via mobile phones.

A police official explained, "The hope of finding lost children is a lifeline for families of long-term missing persons, and the interest and cooperation of citizens and the community are essential," adding, "The Hope Tape campaign was planned to convey the desperate feelings of families of missing persons."

The police plan to expand the production of age-progressed composite sketches and the use of Hope Tape, reflecting the earnest wishes of families of long-term missing children in missing children policies.

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