‘Rage crimes’ grip the nation in fear

A plain clothes officer reenacts a stabbing committed by a 30-year-old male suspect identified as a Kim in Yeouido, Seoul, Thursday. Kim stabbed two former colleagues against whom he had grudge and two passersby the day before. (Photo : Yonhap)

A series of recent “rage crimes” has sent a wave of shock and fear across the nation. In the latest incident, a man terrorized the streets of Yeouido Wednesday, knifing two former colleagues and two strangers. This was preceded Tuesday by the arrest of a sex offender on probation, now charged with murdering a housewife. And on Sunday, a man went on a rampage with a box cutter, injuring eight people on a subway platform in Uijeongbu.

In Yeouido the man, who held a grudge against two former colleagues, injured both of them along with innocent passersby.

The incident, which lasted for about 14 minutes including the stabbing, a chase and confrontation with police, panicked hundreds of office workers who were filing out onto the streets on their way home.

According to police and witnesses, the suspect, a 30-year-old Kim, who worked at a credit rating company in Yeouido, approached two former colleagues in front of a bakery cafe on a street near the National Assembly at 7:16 p.m.

He then stabbed the two, a 29-year-old woman surnamed Cho and a 33-year-old man Kim, in the face, neck and abdomen several times, in front of dozens of people.

While fleeing, he collided with two passersby and stabbed them also.

Some citizens chased Kim, and he was cornered in an alley about 80 meters away from the crime scene. Police officers arrived and after about 10 minutes of confrontation, they used a Taser stun gun and apprehended him.

Kim told police that he committed the crime because of grudge he held against his former colleagues.

“He said he left the company in 2010 because they slandered and bullied him. He got a job at another firm but quit because he failed to adapt to it. He has been living in shabby accommodation and has financial difficulties including a 40 million won debt,” a police officer said.

“Kim said he planned to commit suicide but thought this was all because of the former colleagues and wanted to take revenge against them. Planning to kill six former colleagues, he bought a knife and waited for them in front of the company. He said he feels sorry for the passersby whom he injured,” the officer said.

The wounded people were taken to nearby hospitals. Cho was in a serious condition but the injury was not fatal, police said. Police sought an arrest warrant for Kim for attempted murder.

The Yeouido incident was the latest in a series of such “random attacks.”

On Tuesday, a 39-year-old drunken man, identified as Kang, entered a bar in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, and attempted to rape the female bar owner. He failed because she resisted, and Kang stabbed her and a man who was entering the bar, before fleeing.

Kang then broke into a house about 500 meters away and stabbed the owner, a 65-year-old named Koh, Koh’s wife and his son, killing Koh. He was arrested by police officers. He said he planned to attack the owner of another bar, with whom he had a quarrel, but entered the wrong place because he was drunk.

On early Sunday morning, two drunken men punched and kicked three women for about 10 minutes near Bupyeong Market in Incheon. One of the men even used a steel pipe, and one of the victims had her nose fractured and a tooth knocked out.

The suspects said that they beat the women because they bumped into them while walking.

Last Saturday, a 39-year-old man, Yu, wielded a box cutter at passengers on a subway platform at Euijeongbu Station, north of Seoul, inflicting injuries on eight people.

He had a scuffle with two passengers who criticized him for spitting on the subway train floor. He proceeded to stab them with the box cutter after getting off the train and attacked other passengers there. Yu told police he was in a rage.

On Aug. 3, a man in his 20s or 30s stabbed a man, surnamed Kim, who was leaving a motorcycle repair shop in northern Seoul at 10:30 p.m. The victim received surgery, but sustained damage to the nerves in his arm.

Kim said the suspect, who he has never met, swore at him and the shop owner, so they quarreled. The man then left but came back about 15 minutes later and attacked them. He fled and police are still searching for him. <The Korea Times/Kim Rahn>

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