"I should have given her one more glass of milk..." A 38-year wait for the daughter who left with 50 won [Searching for Lost Families]

[Financial News]"I wonder if she has been healthy and doing well all this time. If she is alive, I hope she will come and look for her mom."Kim Young-suk could not hide her longing for her youngest daughter, Lee Yeon-hee, who went missing 38 years ago and would now be 43 years old (age-progressed photo). Decades have passed since her daughter disappeared, but she has not forgotten her for even a single day. She has carried that longing in her heart throughout all these years.
Yeon-hee was four years old on April 9, 1988, when she left home near Myeonmok 4-dong in Jungnang District in Seoul to buy snacks and never came back. It was a Saturday morning. After breakfast, Kim handed her daughter a glass of milk. When Yeon-hee finished it and asked for more, Kim stopped her, saying she should not drink too much at once. Then Yeon-hee said she would go outside to buy some snacks and asked for money. Kim gave her 50 won and told her, "Play just a little and come right back home."
At the time, the store was only about the distance of two utility poles from their home, a very short walk. But even after several hours, Yeon-hee did not return. "In that neighborhood, everyone knew each other well, and people doted on other people's children too," Kim recalled. "At first, I thought she was just playing at someone else's house, but when she still didn't come back after a long time, that's when we started looking for her."
To find her daughter, Kim and her family handed out flyers and asked around every corner of the neighborhood. They also reported her missing to the police, but no meaningful leads emerged. Later, ChildFund Korea began printing Yeon-hee's photo on cigarette packs to spread the word about her disappearance. After that, tips started coming in from people who said they had seen someone who looked like her.
Kim said, "After seeing my daughter's photo on a cigarette pack, someone in Yecheon, Gyeongsangbuk-do contacted ChildFund Korea, saying they had seen a woman at a hospital with a child who looked like my daughter." She continued, "I went down to Yecheon and stayed there for days, handing out flyers and searching for her, but in the end we couldn't find her."
Years later, Kim even appeared on a television program to look for Yeon-hee. However, the broadcast revealed their home phone number, and people began to exploit it. Calls came in from people claiming to have her or giving false information. Worried for her two remaining young daughters, Kim eventually refused all further TV appearances. With a sigh, she said that time simply passed and brought her to where she is now.
The youngest of three sisters, Yeon-hee was bright and outgoing, and she easily warmed to people around her. Neighbors doted on her especially. She had a round forehead, a small mole about the size of a bean on her elbow, and a small scar under her eyebrow.
Kim still regrets that she did not go out to look for Yeon-hee immediately that day. "Back then I was doing side work at home," she said. "If I hadn't been working, I would have gone out right away to check if my daughter was coming back." Fighting back tears, she added, "Even now, Yeon-hee's older sisters say, 'Mom lost our little sister because she was doing side jobs to pay for our private lessons. If only we hadn't gone to those classes.'"
Because of this, every spring Kim is weighed down by memories of the day she lost Yeon-hee. On holidays or at family gatherings, the first person who comes to mind is always her missing daughter. Whenever she passes a young person who looks about Yeon-hee's age, she thinks of her. In the summer, when she rides the subway, she sometimes scans people's arms, wondering if anyone has a mole on their elbow.
Kim said, "People around me tell me to forget now, but how could I possibly forget?" She went on, "A perfectly healthy child suddenly vanished, and we haven't heard a single word from her until now. It tears me up inside." She added, "These days, you can find family quickly just by doing a DNA test. Her mom and dad are both alive, and it's not too late, even now. I just hope my daughter will hurry and come find us."
welcome@fnnews.com Reporter Jang Yu-ha Reporter