Claim That Missing Japanese Yoon Sejun Is in the US... Consulate General Says "Fingerprint Comparison Shows Difference"

Unconscious Asian Male Found in the US
SNS-Originated Suspicions Spread Widely... Fingerprints Taken

Yoon Se-jun (27), a social worker who went missing in Japan last June, was rumored on the internet to be the same unconscious Asian male patient hospitalized in a California hospital in the United States. However, investigations confirmed that the patient is not Yoon.

According to the Korea Times on the 22nd, suspicions arose recently on social networking services (SNS) that the unidentified Asian male released by the Los Angeles (LA) health authorities might be Yoon.

Missing person flyer of Yoon Se-jun distributed by the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Osaka.
[Photo by Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Osaka website]

The Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in LA stated on the 9th that they collected fingerprints from the man found with severe head injuries in the LA coastal area and compared them with Yoon’s, but they did not match.

Recently, local LA media reported that on the 9th, an Asian male in his mid-20s was found with traumatic brain injury in a residential complex in San Pedro. Since the man’s identity was not confirmed, the LA health authorities distributed information such as his facial photo, the location where he was found, and his belongings to local media.

The man had a black backpack, a wallet containing Japanese yen, and personal travel items, but no identification card. The patient’s height is 178 cm, and weight is 72 kg. This post attracted significant attention on X (formerly Twitter).

Domestic netizens raised suspicions that this man might be Yoon Se-jun, who went missing in Japan. The man in the photo resembles Yoon, whose height is 175 cm and has a similar build, and Yoon also carried a black backpack.

An unidentified Asian male in his 20s released by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
[Photo by X (formerly Twitter)]

On X, posts suggesting that this man could be Yoon recorded over one million views, spreading the suspicion.

However, a representative from the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in LA told the Korea Times in a phone interview, "We collected the fingerprints of the man and sent them to Korea for comparison with Yoon’s, but they did not match."

Yoon entered Osaka, Japan, on May 9th for a backpacking trip before changing jobs, but after a phone call with his older sister on June 8th, he has not been contacted. The Japanese police are conducting a public investigation after receiving a report from the Consulate General of Korea in Osaka. The Japanese police are tracking Yoon’s whereabouts, but no clues have been found so far.

Yoon was born in 1996, is 175 cm tall with a non-skinny build. He has a small scar on his right cheek and went missing in Kushimoto-cho, Wakayama Prefecture. Anyone who knows or has seen Yoon’s whereabouts can report to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs consular call center.