"You'll Never Catch Me"... High School Student Detained After Seven Bomb Threats and Mocking Police

"Risk of Evidence Destruction and Flight"
Arrest Warrant Issued
Suspected of Posting Threats Against Gwangju Schools and Incheon Airport
Denies All Charges

A high school student who repeatedly posted threats claiming to have planted explosives at his own school, and even mocked the police in his messages, has been arrested and detained by the police.

The Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency's Criminal Investigation Unit announced on November 20 that they had detained student A on charges of public intimidation and obstruction of official duties by deception.

Choi Sangsoo, a presiding judge in charge of warrants at the Incheon District Court, conducted a pretrial detention hearing for student A on the same day and issued an arrest warrant, stating, "There is a risk of evidence destruction or flight," and "There are unavoidable reasons to detain the suspect, given that he is a minor."

Fire authorities responded after receiving a threat stating that an explosive device had been planted at a high school in Incheon. Photo by Yonhap News

Student A is accused of posting threatening messages seven times between October 13 and 21 at the 119 Safety Reporting Center, claiming that he had planted or would plant explosives at a high school in Seo-gu, Incheon, where he is enrolled.

Between October 13 and 17, he posted threats for five consecutive days, taunting the police by saying, "You'll never catch me. I used a VPN to bypass five times, so you can't do anything."

As a current student at the school, A also wrote, "Thank you for your hard work over the past four days dealing with XXX. The dedicated response team did XX. I laughed so hard watching XX."

Due to these threats, the school had to send home over 500 students multiple times as a precaution, which disrupted the academic schedule.

Additionally, the police and fire authorities had to conduct searches and increase patrols on campus, and the National Fire Agency improved its authentication system so that callers to the 119 Safety Reporting Center must verify their identity.

The police believe that student A may be the same individual who posted online threats about planting explosives at five schools in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, in September and October.

The investigation is also being expanded to include the possibility that A was responsible for threats posted last month targeting public facilities such as Incheon International Airport.

However, during police questioning, A has denied all related charges, including the high school bomb threats, claiming, "Someone else wrote the posts."