Sixteen children missing after Incheon elementary school pre-enrollment orientation... Police asked to investigate

\r\n
[Financial News] Education authorities have asked the police to investigate after failing to confirm the whereabouts of 16 children in Incheon Metropolitan City who are supposed to enter elementary school this year.
According to News1 on the 12th, when the Incheon Metropolitan Office of Education recently held the 2026 academic year pre-enrollment orientation for 270 public elementary schools (including branch schools) in Incheon Metropolitan City, 1,175 out of a total of 20,270 prospective first graders did not attend.
As of the 6th, the Incheon Metropolitan Office of Education had confirmed the whereabouts of 1,082 of the 1,175 children and was still working to locate the remaining 93. In particular, they have been unable to make any contact at all with 16 of them and have therefore requested a police investigation.
An official from the Incheon Metropolitan Office of Education said, "We are trying to confirm the whereabouts of the children by contacting their guardians and visiting their homes," adding, "Based on past cases, many had left the country and were no longer in Korea, and some were not actually subject to enrollment, so the figures are expected to change."
Last year as well, the Incheon Metropolitan Office of Education asked for an investigation into 16 students who did not attend the elementary school pre-enrollment orientation, and all of them were found to have left the country and were attending schools overseas.
gaa1003@fnnews.com Ahn Gaeul Reporter