South Korea increases security to avoid imitation stabbings

Following a stabbing spree that left 14 people injured close to Seoul, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered police to gather all available resources. This came as threats to perform copycat crimes were being made on social media.

According to Yoon’s remarks on Friday, “the stabbing spree at Seohyeon subway station is an act of terrorism against innocent citizens,” presidential spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye reported. Yoon gave the police the order to send out security guards equipped with suppressive tactics to stop more attacks.

At a department store in the wealthy neighborhood south of Seoul on Thursday, a guy drove his car down a pedestrian walkway before going on a stabbing rampage that left fourteen people hurt. Nine individuals were stabbed, and a car struck five more, leaving two of the victims in critical condition.

According to Yonhap News Agency, police detained the 22-year-old suspect who was treated for schizophrenia personality disorder two to three years prior to his arrest. Only the suspect’s family name, Choi, has been made public by the police.

As copycat crime threats began to surface online hours after the incident, fear of random crime is rising. According to Yonhap, one of them made a threat to kill 20 people at Jamsil Station on Friday morning. Jamsil Station is one of Seoul’s busiest metro stations and is connected to the nation’s tallest structure.

Less than two weeks before to the incident on Thursday, a 33-year-old man in Seoul fatally stabbed a bystander in his 20s before attacking three further individuals in an adjacent alleyway. According to police, the suspect claimed that he “wanted to make other people miserable” because he was leading a wretched life over the course of the inquiry, Yonhap reported.