By Mary Jo Layton and Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writers | Thursday, October 10, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A01

An 8-year-old Fort Lee boy was snatched from a street corner and apparently taken to South Korea in a custody dispute, setting off a frantic international search, authorities said Wednesday.
Investigators suspect that Pyung Woo Song, abducted near his North Central Road home Monday morning as he waited for a school bus, is with his father in Seoul. They were trying Wednesday to confirm the boy’s whereabouts with the assistance of South Korean authorities.
“This is unique because of possible parental involvement,” FBI Special Agent William Tonkin said.
“We are trying to ascertain whether or not we have a federal kidnapping here, and I don’t think we have an answer yet because we don’t have enough facts.”
Investigators from the FBI, South Korea, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, and Fort Lee are involved in the case.
Fort Lee police suspect that the boy’s father, Dae Seup Song, also known as Kwi Hwa Song, arranged the abduction after threatening to bring the boy to South Korea against his mother’s wishes, Fort Lee Police Chief John Orso said. The parents were estranged, but Orso said authorities believe they share custody.
The chief said investigators spoke with the father Tuesday afternoon from Seoul.
“He denied having anything to do with it,” Orso said. “He said it’s a shame. She is doing this to hide the boy.”
The boy’s mother, Eun Sook Choi, in an interview at police headquarters Wednesday afternoon, said she was told that the boy is safe and with his father in Seoul. Choi, through an interpreter, said her sister called from Korea at 4 a.m. Wednesday and told her she had spoken with the boy briefly.
“She is relieved that the boy is OK,” said interpreter Peter Lee.
“He is with his father and uninjured. He cried on the phone and said he wants to return to the United States to live with his mother,” Lee said.
The family moved from Virginia to Fort Lee in July and enrolled the boy in School 3, Orso said.
Police suspect the father fled to South Korea, fearing prosecution for bringing illegal immigrants into the United States, Orso said. A spokesman with the Newark office of the INS would not comment on the case.
Authorities spent most of Wednesday unsuccessfully attempting to arrange a phone call between the mother and boy, the chief said.
Authorities were not aware of the boy’s abduction until midnight Monday, when his mother reported it to Fort Lee police.
School 3 Principal John Caputo said school officials noticed the boy was not present at the start of school day, about 9 a.m., and immediately tried to contact his parents.
The boy’s grandmother told investigators through an interpreter that she thought the boy was with his mother. The boy’s mother was attending school all day and did not return home until 11 p.m. When she realized the boy wasn’t there, she called a friend and went to police, Orso said.
“The problem was letting all these hours pass not knowing anything was wrong,” he said.
Language and cultural barriers also hampered the investigation, Orso said.
“Had we been notified of the threat, we definitely would have taken it seriously and had the boy under close surveillance and possibly could have avoided the tragedy,” he said. “I must ask the Korean community to tell its people that we, the Police Department, are here to assist and protect them.”
Police canvassed the neighborhood at the base of the George Washington Bridge on Tuesday. Fliers with a picture of the youth were circulated in the area.
A neighbor reported seeing an Asian man drag Pyung Woo Song into a black Lincoln Town Car driven by another Asian man.
Fort Lee police suspect the boy was taken to Canada and flown to Seoul. At 10 a.m. Wednesday, a police broadcast in Canada alerted authorities to look for a black sedan with two men suspected of kidnapping a Fort Lee boy. Later in the day, police learned of the mother’s conversation with her sister in Korea about her son being there.

Keywords: FORT LEE; CHILD; KIDNAPPING; MARRIAGE; FAMILY; SOUTH KOREA

Caption: COLOR PHOTO – PYUNG WOO SONG

ID: 17357730 | Copyright © 1991, The Record (New Jersey)