Police find missing girl drowned in Busan park

Police have found the drowned body of a female college student, who had gone missing for eight days in a pond at a park, after she went for a walk.

The Haeundae Police Precinct in Busan said that they found a 21-year-old university student surnamed Mun at Daecheon Park in Jwa-dong, Haeundae District at 3:10 p.m. yesterday. The corpse was found five meters (16 feet) deep in the pond by divers.

The police said Mun was wearing the same clothes - a purple cardigan, black training pants and a pair of black Converse sneakers - she was wearing on the day she went missing and had earphones in her ears when she was found.

The police didn’t find any external injuries or scars on her body, but requested an autopsy from National Forensic Service to find the exact cause of death.

At 11:20 p.m. on April 4, Mun told her family that she would be out for about a half an hour for a walk at the park, but never came back.

Her 47-year-old mother reported her missing to the police at 2:30 a.m. on April 5. The police said Mun has made her last call to her mother at 11:50 p.m., informing her that she will be home soon.

The police identified her whereabouts near the Haeundae Office of Education in Jwa-dong by tracing her phone signal. They sent a pair of patrol units and officers on duty at 4:10 a.m. on the day she went missing, but failed to find her though they searched the area where they detected the signal.

The police continued to search but failed, leading them to form a special investigation team composed of 28 police officers yesterday morning.

“We have not ruled out the possibility that Mun was murdered,” a spokesman of the Haeundae police said.

By Kwon Sang-soo [sakwon80@joongang.co.kr]