The Frog Boys ( ko, 개구리소년, ''Gaegurisonyeon'') were a group of five boys who disappeared in

Daegu, South Korea Daegu (, , literally 'large hill', 대구광역시), formerly spelled Taegu and officially known as the Daegu Metropolitan City, is a city in South Korea. It is the third-largest urban agglomeration in South Korea after Seoul and Busan; it is ...

on March 26, 1991. Woo Cheol-won, Jo Ho-yeon, Kim Young-gyu, Park Chan-in and Kim Jong-sik, aged between 9 and 13 years old, disappeared after searching for

salamander Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All t ...

eggs in the western outskirts of Daegu on a

public holiday A public holiday, national holiday, or legal holiday is a holiday generally established by law and is usually a non-working day during the year. Sovereign nations and territories observe holidays based on events of significance to their history ...

. Their disappearance received widespread attention and caused a national

media frenzy Media circus is a colloquial metaphor, or idiom, describing a news event for which the level of media coverage—measured by such factors as the number of reporters at the scene and the amount of material broadcast or published—is perceived to ...

, and President

Roh Tae-woo Roh Tae-woo (; ; 4 December 1932 – 26 October 2021) was a South Korean politician and army general who served as the sixth president of South Korea from 1988 to 1993. Roh was a close ally and friend of Chun Doo-hwan, the predecessor leader ...

ordered a massive manhunt by the police and military to find them. On September 26, 2002, the remains of the boys were discovered near where they went egg searching, with some showing signs of

blunt-force trauma Blunt trauma, also known as blunt force trauma or non-penetrating trauma, is physical traumas, and particularly in the elderly who Falling (accident), fall. It is contrasted with penetrating trauma which occurs when an object pierces the skin a ...

. The investigation has been inconclusive and theories abound about their deaths. The case remains unsolved.

Victims

The five boys were between 9 and 13 years old: *Woo Cheol-won (aged 13) *Jo Ho-yeon (aged 12) *Kim Yeong-gyu (aged 11) *Park Chan-in (aged 10) *Kim Jong-sik (aged 9) All five boys were from the

Dalseo District Dalseo District (Dalseo-gu) is a district in western Daegu, South Korea. It borders Dalseong-gun on the north, south, and west, and Seo-gu and Nam-gu on the east. It has a population of about 610,000, and an area of 62.27 square kilometers. The ...

of Daegu and attended the same elementary school. A sixth child, 9-year-old Kim Tae-ryong, left the group to go home and eat breakfast. He returned to the group after eating, but he decided not to carry on with the remainder of the boys because his mother had warned him earlier not to stray too far from home.

Circumstances and disappearance

March 26, 1991, was a public holiday in South Korea for the first ever local elections, and the boys decided to spend the day searching for salamander eggs in the streams of Mount Waryong () in Dalseo on the western outskirts of Daegu. The boys never went home, and after they were reported missing, their story made national headlines. President

sent 300,000 police and military troops to search for the boys, with the searches shown on live TV. All 5 of the boys' fathers quit their jobs to look for their children around the country. Mount Waryong was searched over 500 times.

Discovery of bodies

On September 26, 2002, two men searching for acorns discovered their bodies on Mount Waryong in an area that had been searched. They first reported the remains via an anonymous phone call. Initially, the police said they thought the boys had died of

hypothermia Hypothermia is defined as a body core temperature below in humans. Symptoms depend on the temperature. In mild hypothermia, there is shivering and mental confusion. In moderate hypothermia, shivering stops and confusion increases. In severe ...

. But their parents rejected that conclusion and demanded a full investigation. The families questioned the conclusion that the boys had simply died after getting lost due to the oddities of one of the boys clothes being found tied in knots and unused bullets found in his clothes. As well the discovery of their bodies a short distance from the village in an area the boys knew well. Forensic experts found the skulls of three of the children showed

, possibly from metal farming tools. Police said the children could have been killed by someone who "may have flown into a rage."

Aftermath

In 2006, the

statute of limitations A statute of limitations, known in civil law systems as a prescriptive period, is a law passed by a legislative body to set the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings may be initiated. ("Time for commencing proceedings") In ...

expired on the case. However, in 2015, the National Assembly voted to remove the statute of limitations on first-degree murder, opening the possibility of criminal charges if a suspect is found. On the 30th anniversary of their disappearance the city of Daegu installed a memorial monument near the location called "Frog Boy Memorial and Children's Safety Prayer Monument" ( ko, 개구리소년 추모 및 어린이 안전 기원비). The Daegu Metropolitan police force also announced a new task force to review the case from the beginning and follow-up on any new information they receive.

Popular culture

The Frog Boys incident has been the subject of two films: ''Come Back, Frog Boys'' (1992) and '' Children'' (2011). Several songs also refer to the case as well as the documentary ''In Search of the Frog Boys'' (2019).

References