The service, jointly started by SK Telecom with the National Police Agency on May 14, sends out the photo and description of missing children to subscribers in the area when instances of children going missing take place.

The first lucky child was 14-year-old Ms. Pak. She saw a movie with her mother, 40-year-old Ms. Lee, in Mokpo in April 21, but feeling bored half-way through the movie, she left the theater on her own and eventually lost her way.

After the incidence, Lee reported her daughter’s picture, appearance and dress to the police, which the police in turn sent to 700,000 mobile phone users -- including policemen -- in the Cholla provinces last Friday.

Later, a welfare officer of “A” hospital in Gimje, North Cholla Province found that the photograph she received on her phone was very similar to an unknown young girl who was under protection of the hospital. She reported to the police and Pak finally met her parents on Sunday in Wansan-gu Office, Jeonju.

The police noted that, “We made a contract with SK Telecom and asked 15 million registered people whether thwy would receive SMS message on searching missing child, and 6.3million of them agreed to get the messages. KTF is also preparing a similar program.”

(Han Jae-hyeon, rookie@chosun.com )