Residents make their way near Yeouidae-ro in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, on Thursday as a heat wave continues to grip the region. The image is unrelated to the article. [Yonhap]
Residents make their way near Yeouidae-ro in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, on Thursday as a heat wave continues to grip the region. The image is unrelated to the article. [Yonhap]

Police officers who responded to a suspected heat illness call in Gyeonggi Province discovered a man who had been reported missing 30 years ago.

According to the Seongnam Jungwon Police Station, a report came in at around 7:36 a.m. Thursday stating, "There is a person crying on the street."

Sgts. Son Seong-uk and Mo Seong-gap of the Dochon Police Box arrived at the scene and found a 57-year-old man surnamed Kang weeping on a road in Hadaewon-dong, Jungwon-gu, Seongnam. Kang had been worn out by the extreme heat and was in tears, police said.

Sgt. Son wiped Kang's body with a wet towel to bring down his temperature and kept talking to him to prevent him from losing consciousness while monitoring his condition.

While verifying the man's identity, officers discovered he had been the subject of a missing persons report filed long ago.

The investigation found that Kang, who has congenital polio, had left his family home in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, 30 years ago because he did not want to be a financial burden on his family due to medical costs. He later attempted to run a business in Busan and elsewhere but failed, eventually settling in Seongnam — a city where he had no personal ties — and had been living on the streets for the past six years.

Sgt. Son persuaded Kang to agree to contact his family. When police reached his older brother, the brother said, "Is he really alive? I will come right away."

The brother arrived at the police box about five hours later and confirmed the identity of the sibling he had lost 30 years ago. The two then traveled together to Yeosu, police said.

Seongnam Jungwon Police Station chief Im Dong-ho said the case was "an example of identifying a missing person while stabilizing a suspected heat illness patient and helping reunite them with their family," adding that the force would "continue to do its best for the safety of citizens."


jshan@heraldcorp.com