70s Skeleton Found Again in Closed Jeju Inn

Presumed Deceased in 2019

A man in his 70s who had been living alone on basic living allowance was found in a skeletal state five years after his death at a guesthouse in Jeju. In April, a similar case occurred in Jeju where a man in his 70s living alone in a closed motel was found in a skeletal state.

On the 22nd, Yonhap News reported, citing the Jeju Eastern Police Station, that at around 9:36 a.m., a social welfare officer discovered a body presumed to be a man in his 70s named A in a third-floor room of a guesthouse in Ora-dong, Jeju City, and reported it to the police. It was reported that A was found in a skeletal state.

[Photo by Yonhap News]

The police estimate that A died around August 2019 based on the fact that there are no medical records of him receiving treatment since March 2019 and the calendar in the room stopped around the same time. The guesthouse where A was found had not been operating since 2019 but the building was left unattended without filing a closure report.

A had been receiving 300,000 won monthly as basic living allowance, but contact was lost from August 2020, and the allowance payments were stopped.

Jeju City requires social welfare officers to verify by phone or on-site visits if basic living allowance recipients do not answer calls or use electricity or gas for a long time. However, since A’s allowance payments were stopped, he was not included in the full survey of basic living allowance recipients in Jeju City in April. Nevertheless, the responsible officer judged A to be a vulnerable household and requested the guesthouse to open the locked room, leading to the discovery of A’s body that day.

A police official stated, "An autopsy and DNA testing will be conducted to confirm the exact identity."

In Jeju, in April as well, the skeletal remains of a man in his 70s named B were found in a room of a closed motel building in Yongdam-dong, Jeju City. The police estimated that B had lived alone in the motel room for a long time and continued to reside there even after the motel closed in July 2021, dying in the latter half of 2021.

At that time, it was confirmed that Jeju City had continued to deposit about 700,000 won monthly in basic living allowance even after B’s death, and his bank account still had over 15 million won. This incident prompted Jeju City to conduct a full survey on the living conditions of basic living allowance recipients living alone.