While police believe the link between open missing persons cases and organ trafficking to be weak, they are still searching for any correlation between in this latest case.

Police are tracing the course of action of the prime suspect, who was found dead in an apparent suicide. The man, surnamed Kim, was an old friend of the girl’s father.

Kim, 51, had lived in Gangjin, although he had moved houses a few times. His job as a dog meat seller had required him to travel within the region often, so Kim reportedly knew the geography of Gangjin and adjacent areas well. According to the testimonies of neighbors regarding Kim, he had been seen with several presumed romantic partners.

Kim is said to have been a close friend of the victim’s father, leading to the assumption by police that he was able to convince the 70-kilogram girl to climb up the steep mountain peak. Before leaving with the man, the victim had reportedly relayed to a friend that she had been offered a paying job by Kim, but the details are yet to be confirmed.

The number of underage victims reported to have gone missing for over a year in South Jeolla Province since 1970 stands at 16, while the same number for mentally disabled of any age is 13. The same post-2000 figures mark seven and 12, respectively. Of the seven underage, five are female, with two of those in elementary school and three in middle or high school when the case was reported.

Two teenagers who have been reported missing lived in Gangjin, which has a population of about 50,000, while another three lived in eastern South Jeolla Province.

By Lim Jeong-yeo (kaylalim@heraldcorp.com)