Man in His 60s Arrested for Threatening with Chinese Kitchen Knife at Drinking Party; Warrant Denied for Man Who Fired Gas Gun in Response

A man in his 60s has been arrested for threatening an acquaintance with a weapon during a drinking session after an argument over the use of informal speech and profanity. However, a pretrial detention warrant was denied for the man who responded by firing a gas gun.
According to the legal community on the 27th, Judge Lee Young-gwang of the Seoul Southern District Court, chief judge in charge of warrants, held a pretrial detention hearing (substantive warrant review) on the 26th for a man in his 60s surnamed Jeong, who is suspected of aggravated intimidation, and another man in his 60s surnamed Park, who is suspected of carrying a weapon in a public place and violating the Firearms and Ammunition Control Act.
The court issued a pretrial detention warrant for Jeong, stating there was "a risk of evidence destruction and flight." In contrast, it rejected the warrant for Park, explaining, "He used the spray device on the ground or into the air in the course of responding to the other party’s crime of threatening him while in possession of a weapon. Considering that there are some circumstances that can be taken into account regarding how this occurred, it is difficult to find that there are sufficient grounds or necessity for detention," and thus dismissed the request.
The two men, who knew each other, are accused of causing a disturbance after an argument broke out over informal speech and profanity while they were drinking together at a restaurant in Guro-dong in Guro District, Seoul, at around 8:10 p.m. on the 24th.
At the time of the incident, Jeong allegedly took a Chinese kitchen knife from the restaurant and first threatened Park. In response, Park is believed to have fired the gas gun he was carrying three times at the ground and into the air. Because he fired the gun on the street outside the restaurant, Park was also booked on suspicion of carrying a weapon in a public place.
Earlier, on the 25th, the Seoul Guro Police Station requested pretrial detention warrants for both men.
psh@fnnews.com Reporter Park Sung-hyun Reporter