A South Korean YouTuber helped police reunite a missing man with his family after unexpectedly encountering him during a livestream.
The streamer, known as 2ro2, was broadcasting live on the streets of Gwangju on 21 November when he stopped to speak with a man in a blue jacket.
During their brief exchange, the man insisted he was a 23-year-old college student, even though he appeared middle-aged.
“My military service has been postponed,” he told the YouTuber.
Followers of the YouTuber, who has some 143,000 subscribers, immediately flagged that the man resembled a person in a missing-person alert issued a week earlier.
The alert, circulated locally on 14 November, described a 44-year-old man surnamed Kim who had a cognitive disability and was missing since earlier in the month. His appearance, clothes and location all matched the individual seen in 2ro2’s stream.
Realising the man was likely the missing person, the YouTuber contacted police while attempting to keep him engaged, gently responding to his confused statements about his age in an effort to stop him from wandering away.
When the man declined to continue talking, 2ro2 followed him at a distance and relayed his movements to police.
Officers arrived shortly afterwards, identified him as Mr Kim and returned him safely to his family.
The case has drawn national attention to the South East Asian country’s increasing reliance on digital alerts and community intervention in locating vulnerable people.
South Korea records tens of thousands of missing-person cases a year. A government report released in May said that 49,624 people were reported missing in 2024, including 8,430 individuals with mental or cognitive disabilities.
While the vast majority, around 95 per cent, were found within two days, authorities said that vulnerable adults and children often required rapid intervention to prevent any harm.
Since 2021, South Korea has issued targeted missing-person alerts to residents in the vicinity where the disappearance takes place. Authorities say this hyperlocal approach is improving outcomes but cases still rely heavily on public cooperation.
Police didn’t offer further details about the circumstances of Mr Kim’s disappearance, but local authorities said the case demonstrated how digital platforms, community vigilance and rapid reporting could play a major role in locating missing people with cognitive disabilities.
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