Threatening Emails and Faxes from Japan Continue Since August Last Year
Police Track Suspect and Prepare for Terror Response
On the 5th, Children's Day, an email threatening to plant and detonate bombs at domestic public facilities was sent, prompting the police to launch an investigation.
On the 4th, the National Police Agency announced that at around 3:42 a.m. that day, some domestic media outlets received a threatening email stating, "We will install high-performance bombs at public facilities in Korea frequently visited by children." The email also included the message, "This terror is retaliation against U.S. President Joe Biden for making discriminatory remarks against Japanese people."
The email was written in English, and the sender introduced himself as a Japanese lawyer named "Karasawa Takahiro." This name is the same as the one used in threatening emails sent domestically since August last year, threatening to blow up various facilities. Starting with Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, in August last year, threatening emails naming Karasawa Takahiro and others were sent, targeting Seoul City Hall, the Supreme Court, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, and others, causing a commotion as the police conducted searches. The police confirmed that these emails were sent from internet addresses (IP) in Japan and requested cooperation from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.
Recently in Japan, phishing crimes involving the hijacking of accounts of actual lawyers or law firms to send emails have been reported to be rampant. Lawyer Karasawa Takahiro, whose name was hijacked, mentioned Korean threatening email articles on his social media (SNS) last August, stating, "It seems my name is being used without permission," and explained, "In Japan, there are cases where such crimes are not controlled, and some extremists are committing crimes."
In December last year, there was also a case where faxes threatening "sulfuric acid terror" were sent to several media outlets and institutions such as the Pyeongtaek Port Branch Office in Gyeonggi Province, prompting a police investigation. The fax, sent under the name of Japanese lawyer Harada Gakuue, contained phrases in Japanese and Korean such as "We have decided to carry out sulfuric acid terror against media staff and their families," "We own 778 'Kamikaze (神風)' drones loaded with high-performance bombs," and "We have ordered Sugita Itsuaki and Fukatsu Hinari to carry out special attacks on local government facilities, public transportation, and the Japanese embassy."
Prior to this, two faxes threatening to blow up the National Police Agency, Prosecutor's Office, Ministry of National Defense, and National Tax Service were consecutively received at a foreigner support center in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. The faxes were written in Japanese and English, and the senders were listed as Japanese lawyers Karasawa Takahiro and Hasegawa Ryota. Although addresses, phone numbers, and emails were written in Japanese on the faxes, all were found to be false information.
Last month, there was also a report of receiving an email threatening a bomb terror at Gocheok Dome, the venue of the 2024 Major League Baseball (MLB) Seoul opening game, prompting the police to conduct a search, but no dangerous materials were found. At 6:08 a.m. on the 20th of last month, an employee of the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Vancouver, Canada, reported receiving a threatening email stating, "I will detonate a bomb during the game to harm player Shohei Ohtani and others." The email was written in English, and the sender claimed to be a Japanese lawyer. The police considered the possibility that this email was sent by the same perpetrator, given its similarity in content and format to the threatening emails and faxes sent from Japan to Korea since August last year.
The police are not ruling out the possibility that the current threatening email was sent by the same suspect who sent previous emails and faxes, and are tracking the suspect while planning to respond to the terror threats.
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