Man Who Triggered Police Deployment of 529 Over Yatap Station Knife Attack Threat Post Ordered to Pay 14.84 Million Won to the State

[Financial News] A man in his 20s who posted a "knife attack threat at Yatap Station in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province" on an online community and was sued by the state for damages worth tens of millions of won has been ordered to pay about 14 million won to the government. It is the first court ruling on damages since the public intimidation offense was newly introduced.
According to Yonhap News Agency and others on the 24th, Judge Jang Seong-shin of the Civil Division 22 at the Suwon District Court ruled in a damages suit filed by the state against the man, identified only as A, that "the defendant shall pay the plaintiff about 14.84 million won," partially siding with the plaintiff.
On Sept. 18, 2024, A posted an article titled, "I will stab and kill 30 people at Yatap Station on Monday," on an anonymous online community board he managed.
Soon after the post spread, police deployed officers, including special forces units, to the Yatap Station area as a precaution and carried out extended emergency patrols, even bringing in an armored vehicle. A total of 529 police personnel were reportedly sent to the area around Yatap Station during that period.
Police arrested A in November of that year, 56 days after the post, after conducting an international joint investigation.
During questioning, A reportedly said he committed the crime to promote the website he operated.
Police determined that A's false threat was not only a serious crime but also caused a major waste of public security resources and harm to citizens. They filed a civil damages suit, saying that more than 55.051 million won in administrative costs, including officers' labor costs, overtime pay and vehicle fuel expenses, had been wasted.
The court recognized A's liability for only 14.84 million won, about 27 percent of the amount claimed, and dismissed the rest. It is the first ruling since police began filing damages suits to hold people accountable for the waste of security resources caused by threatening online posts.
However, the specific reasons why the court accepted only part of the claim have not yet been disclosed.
Meanwhile, A was sent to trial on charges of intimidation and obstruction of official duties by deception and was sentenced in February on appeal to one year in prison, suspended for two years.
[email protected] Kim Su-yeon Reporter