Four bodies found on Jeju Island fuel organ-trafficking rumors online

Unverified rumors — including claims that an organ-trafficking ring is operating on Jeju Island — have spread rapidly online after four people reported missing on the island were found dead in quick succession. Critics say police failures to respond adequately to the missing-persons reports have deepened public anxiety, and that unrelated cases are being lumped together and circulated as a single connected incident.

According to Yonhap, the four individuals — all of whom had been reported missing — were found dead between Aug. 22 and Friday in Hallim-eup, Aewol-eup, Jocheon-eup and Gujwa-eup in Jeju. Among them was Jang Mi-ran, a woman in her 30s who had been reported missing from Hallim-eup in May. Her body was discovered Friday, more than 100 days after she disappeared. The case drew particular scrutiny after it emerged that the officer in charge had closed the missing-persons file without confirming her whereabouts or safety.

As three other missing persons were found dead around the same time, a so-called "Jeju missing persons map" marking where each body was discovered spread quickly online. Some YouTube channels and SNS accounts went further, alleging that an organ-trafficking organization was operating on the island or that a specific foreign government had colluded with local police. A portmanteau blending the Korean word for tangerine — a symbol of Jeju — with "Cambodia" also began circulating.

No evidence has emerged to suggest the four cases are connected. Claims of organ trafficking, foreign criminal involvement or collusion with a specific country remain unsubstantiated.

Jeju has seen similar waves of rumor follow serious crimes before. After a female tourist was murdered on the Jeju Olle Trail in 2012, rumors spread that ethnic Korean-Chinese men were abducting women — claims that proved groundless. A theory of serial disappearances that circulated during the 2018 Yemeni refugee crisis on the island was also found to involve duplicate reports and inaccuracies, with no homicide confirmed.

Police have launched a broad review of how missing-persons reports are handled, prompted by the Jang case. They are investigating the circumstances under which the case was closed without verifying her actual location and safety, as well as where responsibility lies, while also examining gaps in the overall system for responding to missing persons.

Jeju Island authorities have also moved to strengthen the safety net. They plan to raise the share of AI-enabled closed-circuit television cameras to 75 percent by 2030 and extend footage retention from 30 to 60 days. Patrols will be expanded in remote areas including the Olle Trail, coastal paths and volcanic hills known as oreum. The Jeju Tourism Association expressed concern that the island was being perceived as broadly dangerous, warning that "unverified speculation and information is spreading indiscriminately online."