"The cry of a father who said, 'people's indifference is the most frightening' soaked living rooms with tears."
On the 7th, SBS 'Tails of Tales' (hereinafter Kkokkomu) aired the second installment of the May family month special 'long-term missing children search project,' spotlighting the 'disappearance of Song Hye-hee' case, which has remained unsolved for 25 years. The broadcast pointed out the father's passionate paternal love, who spent his life on the road looking for his missing daughter, and criticized Korea's indifference, drawing attention as it ranked No. 1 on portal real-time trends.
The case began in February 1999 in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, when Song Hye-hee, who was about to enter her senior year of high school, got off a bus at a bus stop and disappeared without a trace. Although there was circumstantial evidence that she got off with a man in his 30s who smelled of alcohol, the police's initial response remained at 'simple runaway,' missing the golden time for investigation.
From then on, father Song Gil-yong's tearful pursuit began. He gave up his livelihood to look for his daughter, hanging 3,700 banners nationwide and distributing 4.5 million flyers. The distance he traveled searching for his daughter was a staggering 1,080,000 km, equivalent to circling the earth 27 times, but sadly the father died in a traffic accident in 2024 while going to collect banners, leaving viewers heartbroken.
Profiler Pyo Chang-won, who participated in the broadcast that day, reanalyzed the terrain and the circumstances at the time and raised the possibility that the perpetrator chose a 'friendly ride' method using a vehicle. He attracted attention by strongly urging the need for reinvestigation, analyzing crime patterns similar to past cases such as Lee Chun-jae and Kang Ho-soon and including the dormitory resident list near the bus stop at the time. Bell of KISS OF LIFE, who appeared as a listener, sobbed, saying, "I can really feel the father's desire to grasp at any straw," and actor Kim Hye-eun and singer Jo Jazz also expressed deep sorrow at the father's life, who did not give up hope even at the edge of the cliff.
Singer Lee Sang-min revealed that he once saw the father installing banners by the roadside during his active years, took photos and shared them on social media, and Solbi also said she could not forget the father's desperate figure standing in fluorescent clothes near the highway, adding to the poignancy. Above all, what gave this special greater meaning was the 'age transformation technology' developed in collaboration with KIST AI·Robot Research Institute. As the team used generative AI to create and reveal Hye-hee's current appearance 25 years later, the scene was filled with alternating hope and sighs.
About 30 celebrities, including Ryu Su-young, TWS's Shin Yu, STAYC's Seeun, and The Boyz's Younghoon, joined by donating their voices and participating in SNS challenges to support the 'long-term missing children search project.' The three MCs Jang Hyun-sung, Jang Seongkyu and Jang Do-youn said, "This project is not an end but a beginning," stressing that everyone's attention is needed until even one child returns to their family's arms. This broadcast, which contained the father's unfulfilled longing, goes beyond a simple reconstruction of the case and delivers a social resonance that leaves a long aftertaste.<
[Photo] SBS
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