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Police probe whereabouts of over 100 children set to start school in March

Published: 27 Feb. 2026, 13:13

Prospective first graders and their parents look around first-grade classrooms at Changsin Elementary School in Busan during orientation on Jan. 6. [YONHAP]

Police launched an investigation into the whereabouts of over 100 children set to enter elementary school next month and found that while most have left the country, six are still believed to be in Korea.

Of 124 prospective first graders whose whereabouts and safety could not be verified initially, 118 have been confirmed to have departed overseas. The investigation aims to look further into the remaining six.

The investigation was requested by the Ministry of Education.

Authorities are conducting on-site checks with the 118 children in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and overseas diplomatic missions.

The number of school-aged children whose whereabouts remain unverified has increased in recent years. The figure rose from 79 in 2023 to 116 in 2024 and 119 in 2025, reaching 124 this year. In particular, the number of children for whom authorities have only been able to confirm departure from Korea — without knowing their current residence or safety status — jumped from 73 in 2023 to 118 this year.

The Education Ministry said the children who left the country may include those studying abroad at an early age, those who moved overseas with parents assigned to work abroad or those taken abroad by migrant mothers who once lived in Korea.

Children carefully walk down a slope near an elementary school in Seodaemun District, western Seoul, as snow falls on Feb. 2. [YONHAP]

Elementary schools nationwide conducted in-person preliminary orientations for incoming students over a 46-day period from Dec. 16 last year to Jan. 30. For children who did not attend, schools and local governments checked their location and safety through phone and video calls, reviews of immigration records via administrative information-sharing systems and visits to registered residences.

If a child’s whereabouts could not be confirmed despite these measures, education authorities referred the case to the local police for investigation. As a result, the whereabouts of 320,033 children — 99.9 percent of the total 320,157 eligible school entrants — were ultimately confirmed.

Efforts to track the whereabouts of school-aged children intensified in 2017 after a child who had missed a preliminary elementary school orientation was later found to have died following prolonged abuse.

“We plan to continue confirming the whereabouts and safety of children who did not attend preliminary orientations in cooperation with related agencies, including schools, offices of education, local governments and police, even after students enter school in March,” the Ministry of Education 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 PARK JONG-SUH [[email protected]]