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Seoul (CNN)Police in the South Korean capital Seoul launched a massive search operation Thursday after the city's mayor was reported missing.
Park Won-soon was reported missing by his daughter at around 5 p.m. Thursday (4 a.m. ET). Park's last cell phone signal was detected in the Seoul neighborhood of Seongbuk-gu, very close to his official residence in Jongno-gu, according to a police official with knowledge of the case.
Search teams were scouring Waryong Park, where the mayor was recorded on CCTV footage at 10:53 a.m., along with several other locations in the city, police said.
Nearly 600 police officers and firefighters, along with three rescue dogs, were deployed to search for the mayor, police said in a briefing on Thursday night.
"If we cannot find him tonight, we'll resume our search from dawn tomorrow using helicopter and drones," said Chung Jin-hang, the search team leader for the Seongbuk Fire Station.
The 64-year-old longtime civic activist, who has been Seoul's mayor since 2011, is seen as a likely hopeful for the liberals in the 2022 presidential elections.
When Park was elected in a landslide victory against the ruling party nearly a decade ago -- with no political ties or experience -- it sparked a public frenzy. His unexpected rise to the second most powerful position in the country was seen as a sign that South Koreans were tired of traditional politics.
The former human rights lawyer, who ran independently but forged an alliance with opposition parties, championed city welfare projects and became a symbol of reform.
He was reelected as mayor in 2014 and again in 2018.
