"Professor Lee Soo-jung: 'Murder Threat Posts Should Be Severely Punished Under the Crime of Murder Preparation'"

Regarding the Seohyeon Station Incident: "Extremely Antisocial"

On the 3rd, after a stabbing rampage incident occurred at Seohyeon Station in Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi Province, another series of 'murder threat posts' have been continuously uploaded on online communities. Regarding this phenomenon, Professor Lee Soo-jung of the Department of Criminal Psychology at Gyeonggi University argued, "The crime of attempted murder should be applied and severely punished."

In an interview with CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' on the morning of the 4th, Professor Lee said, "This is truly an extremely antisocial act."

Professor Lee Su-jeong, Department of Criminal Psychology, Kyonggi University. Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@

He stated, "If the person is not mentally ill and has no history of mental illness, it is correct to consider the crime as caused by a psychopath," and emphasized again, "Then, if a fatality occurs, it is a reckless murder."

Professor Lee explained, "For the time being, it is necessary to strictly apply the crime of attempted murder to all authors of murder threat posts, applying criminal law very strictly," adding, "By the way, the crime of attempted murder can be severely punished with imprisonment of up to 10 years."

He added, "Specifically, posting photos of weapons is practically preparing for murder," and said, "For now, strict punishment is necessary; neglecting posts on bulletin boards is quite a dangerous form of neglect."

On the afternoon of the 3rd, police are controlling access at the scene of a random stabbing incident near Seohyeon Station in Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi Province. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Earlier, at around 5:58 p.m. the previous day, a 112 emergency call was received reporting that an unidentified man was stabbing people with a weapon at AK Plaza near Seohyeon Station. The suspect, Choi (23), drove a Morning vehicle onto the sidewalk and wielded a weapon on the 1st and 2nd floors of AK Plaza. As a result, five pedestrians and nine people inside the department store were injured. Among the 14 injured, two are reported to be in critical condition.

Choi, who was urgently arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, reportedly said that "an unidentified group tried to hire someone to kill me, which led to the crime." A rapid drug test showed negative results.

The police believe that Choi committed the crime due to mental illness such as delusions of persecution, and plan to apply for an arrest warrant after additional investigations on the 4th.

Ori Station, Jamsil Station Crime Warning Post
[Photo by Online Community Archive]

Meanwhile, after the rampage incident, posts predicting similar crimes have appeared online, prompting the police to start an investigation.

The Cyber Investigation Division of the Southern Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency announced that they are tracking the authors of two murder threat posts circulating on the internet that day. They also stated that if similar threatening posts appear in the future, they will conduct focused investigations and respond strictly.

After the Seohyeon Station incident on the night of the 3rd, a post appeared on the closed social networking service (SNS) 'Telegram' stating, "I will carry out a stabbing rampage near Ori Station between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Friday, August 4." Another post titled "I will kill 20 people at Jamsil Station tomorrow (the 4th) morning" was also posted on another online community.