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Gimpo John Doe was a young boy whose body was discovered floating in the Han River between the Ganghwado and Gyodong islands on the border between North and South Korea. Due to tensions between the two countries, his body could not be retrieved from the water until 3 days later once it had floated closer to the city of Gimpo in South Korea. Due to where his body was initially sighted, it is suspected that he may have been a citizen of North Korea.
Case[]
On the 4th of August, 2016, South Korean Marines noticed the body of a child floating in the Han River Estuary on the border between South and North Korea. The Marines had been stationed in the area to monitor the Korean Demilitarized Zone and to apprehend any Chinese fishermen illegally fishing in the area, though they were not able to immediately retrieve the boy's body due to tensions with North Korea. The boy's body was not recovered until August 7th when his body floated away from the border and closer to the city of Gimpo by a pumping station. His body was quickly searched for any sort of weaponry or injuries, though he was found to be unarmed and unscathed despite the decomposition of his body.
Once his body was secured, the Marines transported his body to the National Institute of Forensic Sciences for an autopsy where it was confirmed that there were no signs of trauma on his body or any indication that he was murdered. The decedent was then suspected of having drowned, though due to the lack of eyewitnesses in the area where he was initially seen, authorities are unable to confirm his death as drowning. Due to his fingers and toes being heavily decomposed, South Korean authorities could not obtain his fingerprints to compare with their national database.
Detectives in the decedent's case currently suspect he was a 'Kkotjebi', which is a slang term for children in North Korea who freely wander searching for food. This phenomenon is stated to have grown substantially following the death of North Korean leader Kim Il-sung in 1994, with the environment fostered by North Korean authorities causing the children to resort to several acts such as gathering any food they may discover, begging for food or money, and pickpocketing passersby. This activity was known to have been rampant near the Tumen River and the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture.
Due to the boy being unable to be identified, his body may have been transported to the city of Paju and enshrined in an area named 'Yaksuam', where various unidentified decedents are located. In contrast to most cases of unidentified decedents in South Korea, he has not been cremated.
Clothing[]
- Short-sleeved t-shirt.
- Pants bearing engravings of the letters "FG".
Sources[]
- Ilyo Sisa (Korean)