Oct 7, 2026 · 46 min · 11 segments
Kim Ju-cheol left his boys with their mother and told them he would be back in time for the upcoming holiday. Days passed, and no one heard from him. When his family went to the police, they were told…
[gentle music] When Kim Jucheol didn't return on Children's Day, the detectives at Yongin Dongbu Police Station received a missing persons report.
The children were safely with their family, and Jucheol didn't have any signs of a struggle from his own apartment.
Even if they wanted to use all of their resources to track him down, their hands were a little bit tied.
There was nothing indicating that this wasn't just him going off the grid voluntarily.
What they did know was that Jucheol was a sole proprietor who ran a small interior construction company.
And in the eyes of the desk sergeant hearing the missing persons report from the ex-wife, an independent contractor with a lot of debt was, to him, just likely to be a deadbeat dad who had skipped town to evade his creditors.
To give some context, in South Korea, roughly 80% of all self-employed sole proprietors and small general contractors operated with virtually zero net profit margin.
They survived mostly by constantly rolling over short-term project debt while waiting for the commercial accounts to settle.
To those who loved him, he was a good businessman, a devoted father who loved his children, and he liked his job.
After him and his wife had an amicable divorce, he agreed to take on primary custody of the two boys, and he built his entire life around them.
Prior to meeting his wife, he was in the Republic of Korea's Navy and Marine forces as a non-commissioned officer, and he carried that discipline into all aspects of his life.
Specifically, his training was in open water diving, and even after leaving the armed forces, he continued to be a scuba diver.
As far as his friends would say, he was universally known as a generous guy who picked up the tab at the bar, helped out his friends with a moment's notice, and he was really protective of his boys.
Before he even left on May 1st, Jucheol drove over to his ex-wife's apartment to drop the boys off for the weekend.
The plan was that she was going to watch them for a couple of days while he went and handled some business.
Then he would be back before Children's Day on May 5th to take them out to do something fun.
[gentle music] When Kim Jucheol didn't return on Children's Day, the detectives at Yongin Dongbu Police Station received a missing persons report.
The children were safely with their family, and Jucheol didn't have any signs of a struggle from his own apartment.
Even if they wanted to use all of their resources to track him down, their hands were a little bit tied.
There was nothing indicating that this wasn't just him going off the grid voluntarily.
What they did know was that Jucheol was a sole proprietor who ran a small interior construction company.
And in the eyes of the desk sergeant hearing the missing persons report from the ex-wife, an independent contractor with a lot of debt was, to him, just likely to be a deadbeat dad who had skipped town to evade his creditors.
To give some context, in South Korea, roughly 80% of all self-employed sole proprietors and small general contractors operated with virtually zero net profit margin.
They survived mostly by constantly rolling over short-term project debt while waiting for the commercial accounts to settle.
To those who loved him, he was a good businessman, a devoted father who loved his children, and he liked his job.
After him and his wife had an amicable divorce, he agreed to take on primary custody of the two boys, and he built his entire life around them.
Prior to meeting his wife, he was in the Republic of Korea's Navy and Marine forces as a non-commissioned officer, and he carried that discipline into all aspects of his life.
Specifically, his training was in open water diving, and even after leaving the armed forces, he continued to be a scuba diver.
As far as his friends would say, he was universally known as a generous guy who picked up the tab at the bar, helped out his friends with a moment's notice, and he was really protective of his boys.
Before he even left on May 1st, Jucheol drove over to his ex-wife's apartment to drop the boys off for the weekend.
The plan was that she was going to watch them for a couple of days while he went and handled some business.
Then he would be back before Children's Day on May 5th to take them out to do something fun.
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