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| Police and subway officials patrol Jamsil Station in southeastern Seoul, Friday, in response to a menacing online post that threatened a copycat crime similar to the stabbing rampage that took place the day before in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. Yonhap |
Gov't mulls introducing life imprisonment without parole for serious crimes
By Lee Hae-rin
A series of copycat crimes and menacing online posts forewarning of similar attacks have emerged across the country following stabbing rampages at southern Seoul's Sillim Station and a department store in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province.
On Thursday evening, a 22-year-old surnamed Choi rammed a vehicle into pedestrians outside a department store near Seohyeon Station in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, and then attacked shoppers with a knife inside the building. The attack left 14 people injured with two in critical condition and at risk of brain death, according to fire authorities, Friday. On Sunday, a woman in her 60s who had been brain dead after being run over was pronounced dead, according to police.
The attack resembled last month's stabbing attack outside Sillim Station in southern Seoul, where a 33-year-old man surnamed Cho attacked four men with a knife, killing one and wounding three.
These incidents have sparked a concerning pattern of similar violent episodes and online threats of copycat attacks.
On Friday, an unidentified man in his late 20s stabbed a high school teacher multiple times in the face and chest at a high school in Daejeon's Daedeok District, 139 kilometers south of Seoul.
The suspect reportedly entered the front gate after introducing himself as a graduate of the school and looked for the victim at the teachers' office. After the attack, the teacher fled to an administrative office and reported it to the police, while the suspect ran away.
Police arrested the suspect, identified as a former student whom the victim had previously taught, seven to eight kilometers away from where the attack took place about two hours later and are investigating his motives. The victim was transferred to a hospital in an unconscious state and underwent surgery.
In a separate incident, a knife-wielding man in his 20s was apprehended at the ground floor of Seoul Express Bus Terminal in Seocho District, Friday. According to Seocho Police Station, the police received a report about him at 10:39 a.m., and arrested the man, who was found to be carrying two kitchen knives on the first floor of the terminal, about six minutes later. No casualties were reported.
On Sunday, police said they have tracked down 46 people, a number of whom are minors, in connection with online murder threat posts across the country. They also said at least 42 copycat crime threats have been posted on online communities and through Telegram messenger, where users have explicitly threatened to carry out similar attacks, emulating the recent spate of stabbings, since the stabbing rampage near Sillim Station, July 21.
These threats, which detail the intended time and location of possible new attacks, have generated public fear, particularly as they are spread online via screenshots. The locations of the forewarned attacks are mainly at subway stations in Busan, Seoul and cities in Gyeonggi Province near where Thursday's rampage took place.
Although some of the posts have been deleted, public fears are growing as the screenshots of the posts spread online. Police patrols have increased in the specified areas, with additional emergency officials and ambulance services on standby.
Responding to the series of crimes, police and the Ministry of Justice declared that they would take strict countermeasures against serious crimes.
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| Korean National Police Agency Commissioner General Yoon Hee-keun gives a statement to the nation in response to a series of stabbing rampages, at the agency's headquarters in Seoul, Friday. Yonhap |
Korean National Police Agency Commissioner General Yoon Hee-keun gave a statement to the nation at the agency's headquarters in Seoul, Friday, in which he declared "special policing against serious crimes until people's worries subside."
Yoon urged police officers to use firearms and stun guns against culprits at the scenes of stabbing rampages and said the police will track down and severely punish those who post threats online that preannounce copycat crimes.
The justice ministry also announced, Friday, that it will consider introducing life imprisonment without parole for offenders of serious crimes.
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