5 Things That Still Stick Out in the Son Jung Min Mystery

Sean Lim
5 min readSep 6, 2021

When you’re uncovering someone who’s cheating on you, every clue you uncover turns you into the bad guy for being suspicious. You have to give the benefit of the doubt. Don’t accuse. Forget about it. And then down the line when you’ve probably seen the light, you really have forgotten about the really big zingers that you let go. No, no. We won’t do that with the Son Jung Min case. We’re gonna bring back some of the turkey legs back that everyone else said were chicken wings in Han River Gate. Let’s snack on these.

What’s the first thing you go through when you think someone’s cheating on you? The digital footprint. And these days? The smartphone! And of course Mr. A’s went ‘missing’.

5. Mr. A’s Cell Phone Found by the Janitor

How convenient it went missing. But then when there was an uproar that couldn’t be stifled anymore, it was miraculously found in order to clear him of any guilt. Of course the cell phone would have no incriminating evidence by that point, which would be when?

The park janitor claims to have found it on the grass (in a highly busy area that was being searched night and day) two and a half weeks after the incident… on May 11. He said he kept it in his locker and then forgot about it. Then he saw some stuff on the news and remembered the phone and turned it in on May 30, the day after Unanswered Questions. And the day when the lawyer issued their own public statements. It was like a D-Day attack.

Even the janitor said — well, I think the phone was probably planted there. I don’t think it was there the whole time. It was probably made to just look like it was there recently.

Should a phone just be a phone to a janitor without a place, time or origin? Since when does he get into James Bond theories?

Unless… he’s part of one and let it slip.

4. SJM’s Cell Phone Usage Blamed ALL on Background Data Updates

It is sooooo… obvious that SJM’s phone was being used at critical times of the evening.

But just to clear any doubt, SJM’s dad handed it over to the police forensics to get a real assessment when he still trusted the police investigation.

They blamed it ALL on background usage from a boiler plate statement from the cell phone company, which basically said that’s what sometimes happens.

And they had to reissue statements multiple times to correct their lies about their ‘findings’. They got the last call wrong, the last text wrong, the last app usage wrong. Even mixed up what was app and what was text. And never clarified. Just did a hop, skip and a dance off the stage after being called out by SJM’s mom with evidence of a text message, which was actually a message on an app. But the police still mixed it up. No credibility.

The phone was active in data usage when 1) Son Jung Min went missing AND when 2) Mister A said he was sleeping between 3:38 a.m. and 4:27 a.m. Did background app usage suddenly go up during this time coincidentally?

Data usage receipt by SK Telecom submitted to police by Son Jung Min’s father

First of all, we know this is NOT true. We know SJM uploaded to social media. And we see the data evidence.

1:22 am 3.8 mb

1:37 am 3.5 mb

1:55 am 580 kb

Then it goes throughout the evening sporadically a dozen times in the 10 to 90kb range.

Then…

Super heavy data usage:

3:38 am — 212 kb — when Mr. A called his parents! Did he use kakako talk to call his parents?

4:23 am — 412 kb — almost double the data usage of 3:38 am! Did he do a video chat from the river bank?

4:36 am — 178 kb — is this when he got into the taxi or his ride home?

5:15 am — 640 kb

5:28 am — 155 kb

How are there so many ‘background data updates’ that coincide with key moments throughout the evening of Han River Gate?

And you know what you guys?

This receipt literally states how long the usage was in minutes and whether it was data chatting or a data call. So this is not a log of raw data usage. This is a consumer-oriented bill for your text messages and voice calls using your data plan instead of your voice plan.

Claiming that a digital forensics analysis was done and then releasing the marketing statement from the SK Telecom website on background data update usage was a severe con in the police report.

3. Blood on the Ground Near the Site That Didn’t Test Positive as Blood

Investigation of the area showed traces of blood — or spots of red substances that certainly looked like blood. However, the police said that tests came back negative for blood.

Obviously, now, after everything that’s happened, SJM’s father is not convinced with how the police conducted the so called blood test.

He claims to have done his own luminol test.

If it does come back as blood, it does start to raise questions of whose blood was dripping.

If it indeed were SJM’s blood, then it does support the theory that he had been moved instead of immediately thrown into the water.

2. Divers not being able to find a body just meters away from the accident site.

They claimed that the body just drifted away and drifted back.

Numerous claims say the water is stagnant.

Did the police deliberately try not to find the body?

Or was the body moved off-site and then dumped back into the river when it was ready to be ‘discovered’?

1. The body during the autopsy was described as being in surprisingly good and fresh condition.

Son Jung Min’s father said he was surprised when he saw his son’s body at the autopsy because he looked to be in good condition despite being submerged in the river for five days. At the time, Mr. Son was extremely grateful to see his son one last time. Now, there are glaring questions as to how this fortuitous moment was created.

Does it support the theory that SJM’s body did not take the path suggested or insinuated by a discredited television program and a highly flawed mid-investigation police report? Remember, we still have no final report and conclusive findings from the Han River Gate investigation even after four months.

PETITION!

Let’s demand a scientific-based investigation and a full release of CCTV footage into the disappearance of Son Jung Min at the Han River.

SIGN THE PETITION (FOR KOREANS): https://petitions.assembly.go.kr/status/registered/C830BE9E54525352E054A0369F40E84E

SIGN THE PETITION (FOR NON-KOREANS): https://www.change.org/sonjungmin

Originally published at https://www.theseoulite.com on September 6, 2021.

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Sean Lim

Content creator and writer on the real drama behind K-drama.