A 61-year-old woman who went missing over half a century ago has been reunited with her mother, who never gave up hope of finding her, according to local police Tuesday.
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on Tuesday shared the story of the woman surnamed Jo, who vanished in August 1971 at the age of 7 while traveling by bus to her aunt’s house in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul.
Jo's mother, surnamed Jang, only learned of her daughter's disappearance after her sister -- Jo's aunt -- told her in person a month later, as she did not have a phone at home.
Jang reported the case to the police but was unable to find her child.
In July 2023, she refiled the case with the Yangcheon Police Station in western Seoul, saying she wished to see her daughter "just one more time before I die." The case was transferred in January of this year to the criminal investigation division of the SMPA, which deals with citywide missing persons cases.
From the child welfare sector of the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the officers obtained data on girls born between 1962 and 1964 who were admitted to orphanages between June and December of 1971.
Narrowing their search to children who went missing in Yeongdeungpo-gu, police identified one girl found crying alone at the final stop of a bus route in 1971. The record showed that she was taken by a man to a child protection service, after which she was taken to the Seongnam Child Care Center in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province.
Jo had kept her given name but was assigned a new surname by the authorities, and was registered as being born in 1964 instead of her actual year of birth, 1963. It was found that in an interview with government officials in May -- conducted with orphans who had chosen or been given new family names -- Jo said that she "got lost on the way to her aunt's house."
Jo said she could not remember where to get off that day and that she was crying alone because she could not remember her home address or her parents' names.
The genetic relationship between Jang and Jo was confirmed on July 21 through DNA testing by the National Forensic Service, and the family was reunited last Friday.
Jo said she had nearly given up on ever finding her family, but her two daughters encouraged her not to give up hope. "I had no idea that I would find (my mother)," she said.
Jang said, "I just wanted to know if my daughter was even alive before I die, and I'm so thankful that the police managed to track her down."
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com
