A large-scale search was underway for the mayor of the South Korean capital of Seoul after his daughter reported that he left a verbal message that sounded like a will, according to the report.
Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said that they combed Sungbuk-dong, a district in northern Seoul, where Mayor Park Won-soon’s telephone signal was detected last, according to a Reuters report.
His daughter, who reported him missing at 5:17 pm local time, said the telephone was dead, officials said.
He told police that his father left a message “as willed” before leaving their home hours earlier – but he did not explain the contents of the message, a police official said.
About 150 officers, a drone and a dog have been mobilized to search Park, according to police.
Government official Kim Ji-hyeong confirmed that Park did not show up for work on Thursday due to unspecified reasons and canceled all his schedules.
Park – a longtime civil activist and human rights lawyer who has been mayor since 2011 – is seen as a potential presidential candidate for liberals during the 2022 presidential election.
He has established himself as a fierce opponent of former conservative President Park Geun-hye and supports millions of people who flooded city streets in late 2016 and 2017, calling for his overthrow amid a corruption scandal.
Park Geun-hye, who was fired from his post in 2017, is serving a long prison sentence for bribery and other charges.
Seoul, a city of 10 million people, has become the new epicenter of a coronavirus outbreak in South Korea, which relaxed strict social distance rules in early May.
With Post cable
