50s Declared Dead in 2003
Police Reinvestigation "Identifying the Body at the Time Would Not Have Been Easy"
The police have launched a reinvestigation after it was confirmed that a man who was declared dead 20 years ago is actually alive.
According to Uijeongbu City and the police on the 2nd, Mr. A (57), who lived alone wandering around northern Gyeonggi Province working day labor jobs or collecting scrap, was officially recorded as deceased for 20 years but recently restored his identity.
He was aware that he had been declared dead, but gave up on restoring his resident registration due to the complicated procedures. It was impossible for him to find a regular job, and he could not even enter into simple contracts, access medical services, or conduct financial transactions, so he had to move from one gosiwon to another.
The 'Resurrection Resident Registration Card Delivery Ceremony' held on the 28th of last month in the Uijeongbu City Mayor's Office. [Photo by Uijeongbu City]
The place that helped Mr. A, who lived as a deceased person for 20 years, recover his identity was a social welfare organization. In January of this year, while he was homeless near Nokyang Station in Uijeongbu, he received help from a social welfare institution.
The Uijeongbu Hope Recovery Comprehensive Support Center requested the Korea Legal Aid Corporation to take on a lawsuit for ‘registration correction permission’ to restore Mr. A’s living status. They also obtained a court decision granting the registration correction permission. The center managed his daily life by providing various food and beverages, relief supplies, medical care connections, and temporary housing expenses. The Uijeongbu City Welfare Policy Division immediately assigned Mr. A a social welfare computer number and prioritized him as a basic livelihood security recipient, providing seamless services for living expenses, medical care, and housing.
So why was Mr. A declared a deceased person? On May 26, 2003, a dead body was found in the basement of a multi-family house in Uijeongbu. At the time, the police checked the scene following a resident’s report of a foul odor that had been present for several days, but the body was too decomposed to identify.
The house was divided into several rooms rented out monthly, and most tenants were transient, staying only a few months, making identification difficult.
After inquiries, the police heard that Mr. A had lived in that room. They then located his elderly mother and other family members to confirm his identity. Since there was no suspicion of a crime, the case was closed as a simple unattended death, and he was declared dead.
Mr. A reportedly told the police, “I lived in the basement room 20 years ago and moved to other areas when I had money.” The police plan to formally investigate his whereabouts soon by summoning him.
A police official said, “Since this is a case from 20 years ago, there are no staff members who remember the situation at the time, so reinvestigation will not be easy,” adding, “We will try to ascertain as much as possible about the handling of the case, including the identification of the body at that time.”
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health and Welfare conducted a survey on the occurrence and characteristics of solitary deaths over the past five years (2017?2021) and announced the results of the ‘2022 Solitary Death Survey.’ This is the first central government-level survey under the Solitary Death Prevention Act. The number of deaths classified as solitary deaths was 15,066. The number increased from 2,412 in 2017 to 3,378 in 2021. This represents a 40% increase over five years, averaging 8.8% annually. The proportion of solitary deaths among total deaths is also on the rise, increasing from 0.8% in 2017 to 1.1% in 2021.
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