3 men arrested on suspicion of luring teenage girls to mountain and abandoning them
Published: 16 Feb. 2026, 16:36
Updated: 16 Feb. 2026, 18:26
Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI
![The now-shuttered sexual health clinic on the foothills of Mount Soyosan in Dongducheon, Gyeonggi, as photographed on Aug. 14, 2024 [YONHAP]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2026/02/16/0fa0df0d-ce0e-4943-b4ea-d1e1d6714f32.jpg)
The now-shuttered sexual health clinic on the foothills of Mount Soyosan in Dongducheon, Gyeonggi, as photographed on Aug. 14, 2024 [YONHAP]
Three men have been arrested on charges of endangering the safety of minors by allegedly luring two teenage girls to a mountain under the guise of exploring an abandoned building, then leaving them stranded there.
Police in Dongducheon, Gyeonggi, said on Monday that the trio were apprehended on suspicion of violating the Child Welfare Act. The main suspect is a man in his 30s believed to be the ringleader, and his accomplices are in their 20s.
According to police, the suspects contacted two 14-year-old girls through an online chat platform in October last year and suggested they go “explore an abandoned building.” The victims got into a car with the suspects in Ansan, Gyeonggi, and traveled north to Mount Soyosan.
After arriving at around 1 a.m., the group got out of the vehicle to walk toward a now-shuttered sexual health clinic that was built by the government after the 1950-53 Korean War to manage sex workers serving U.S. troops in the area. The building currently lies in ruin.
While pretending to accompany the girls, the three suspects allegedly fell back and ran away, leaving the teenagers behind in the dark.
Frightened, one of the girls called emergency services and told the operator, “I got into a stranger’s car, and they’re trying to leave me here.”
Police initially investigated the case on suspicion of possible sexual crimes or kidnapping, but they found no evidence supporting those charges. The suspects were not YouTubers or streamers and did not film the victims.
The suspected ringleader, who runs a small business, is believed to have also met the two accomplices through an online chat platform. Under questioning, he told investigators he lured the girls to the mountain “because it was funny to see people panic and get flustered in the dark.”
A police officer said the main suspect had committed two similar acts in the past, but no charges were filed in those cases because the victims were adults.
“Despite his claim that it was a prank, targeting minors with little social experience is itself a crime and could easily lead to a serious accident,” the officer said.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY JANG GU-SEUL [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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