“If we’d come out just a little later...” Daily life shattered by a knife rampage at a supermarket in broad daylight [Knife Terror, Endless Tragedy (Part 1)]

[Financial News] “It’s frightening because even if you pass someone on the street, you can’t tell who might be dangerous. If you’re sitting in a restaurant and suddenly get attacked, how would you get away?”
As knife rampages keep recurring in everyday places such as big-box stores and department stores, public anxiety is growing. Interest in self-defense products and demand for private personal-protection services are rising, while calls are growing to address public-safety blind spots at facilities open to large numbers of people.
Lee, an office worker in their 40s whom we met on the 14th at a large mixed-use commercial complex in Guwol-dong, Namdong-gu, Incheon, could not hide their shock that a knife rampage had taken place the previous day in the building they had left after having lunch as usual. “If we’d come out just a little later, we could have been caught up in it,” Lee said. “I can’t believe something like that happened in a place where we always go to eat.” After the incident, some office workers nearby even discussed changing where they went for meals.
The previous day, 59-year-old Choi wielded a weapon against people he had never met in the building, injuring eight. One of them, a woman in her 20s, was taken to hospital in cardiac arrest and underwent surgery.
The scene remained quiet even a day later. Most of the seats in the restaurant area—which has about 20 businesses and more than 300 seats—were empty despite it being lunchtime. The restaurant whose owner’s son had helped subdue the suspect had closed for business, posting a sign that read, “Closed today.” Yoo, a restaurant owner in his 50s who witnessed what happened, said, “A customer at our restaurant was stabbed in the back too, and I was so scared that I hid when the suspect went elsewhere and then came back.” He lamented, “This neighborhood is usually quiet, and violent crimes don’t happen often. I don’t know why he came to this building in particular and did something like that.”
Indiscriminate knife attacks threatening people’s everyday lives have occurred repeatedly in the past. Last April, a knife rampage at a supermarket in Mia-dong, Gangbuk-gu, Seoul, left one person dead and another injured. In July 2023, near Sillim Station in Gwanak-gu, Seoul, a man in his 30s wielded a knife at passersby on the street, killing one and injuring three. In August of the same year, near Seohyeon Station in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, a man in his 20s struck pedestrians with a car, then entered a department store and attacked people with a knife, leaving 14 people dead or injured.
An offense for carrying a weapon in a public place was established following a series of knife rampages, but related incidents continue to occur. According to data the National Police Agency submitted to the office of Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Jun-hwan, 1,193 cases involving the offense were recorded between the law’s implementation in April last year and August this year; 1,164 people were apprehended and 1,020 were referred to prosecutors.

Anxiety over recurring crimes is increasingly prompting people to take steps to protect themselves. On Naver Data Lab, the search index for “self-defense products” jumped about 5.3-fold, from 19 on the 12th to 100 on the 13th, the day of the incident. That was at least six times the figure for the 13th of last month (16). The head of a self-defense products retailer in Seoul’s Seocho-gu said, “Purchases rose sharply during the earlier knife rampage near Sillim Station. Gas guns and stun guns are the main sellers, and we expect inquiries to increase this time too.”
Requests for private personal-protection services have also increased. At a private detective agency in Seoul’s Yeongdeungpo-gu, requests that had averaged about five a month after the 2023 incidents near Sillim and Seohyeon stations have recently risen to around 12. The agency said many clients request security not only for court appearances but also at crowded venues such as concert halls. Park Min-ho, a detective with a background in the police, said, “With crimes targeting the public at large, there’s no way to know when or where you might be attacked, and there are limits to what the police alone can do.” He voiced concern about the possibility of copycat crimes at similar facilities.
Experts warn that repeated knife rampages can shake people’s confidence in the safety of everyday places and increase public anxiety and stress. Keumjoo Kwak, a professor of psychology at Seoul National University, said, “When people lose their belief that public places are safe, they become constantly vigilant and attentive, which increases fatigue.” She advised, “It is important to quickly determine the cause of an incident while restoring the belief that people can help one another in a crisis and rebuilding a sense of community.”

Addressing public-safety blind spots at facilities open to large numbers of people is another challenge. Anyone can freely enter shopping malls and big-box stores, but police patrols are concentrated on roads, making it more likely that the interiors of these facilities will receive less attention. Analysts say regular patrols should be strengthened using mobile patrol units and other resources, and that patrols using advanced technologies such as drones should supplement policing in areas short of officers and equipment.
Patrol cars were deployed at the scene that day, and officers patrolled inside the building, but residents agreed that the response should not stop at temporary measures. B, a merchant in his 50s at a shopping complex near the scene, said, “Citizens picked up nearby objects such as chairs and stopped the attacker with their bare hands, but the police came later with shields.” He added, “Shouldn’t the police have responded faster?” Questions were also raised about the building’s own security arrangements. According to a staff member at the management office of the building where the incident took place, there was no separate security office, and only one guard was on duty at the information desk on the first floor. Some visitors claimed that permanent security staff had left during the big-box store’s shutdown and were not replaced when it reopened.
Yeom Gun-woong, a professor in the Department of Police & Fire Administration at U1 University, said, “Regular patrols of facilities open to large numbers of people are needed to ease public anxiety and limit offenders’ access.” He stressed, “There needs to be a mechanism to appropriately allocate police personnel, budgets and equipment to areas that lack them.”

[email protected] Kim Ye-ji, Choi Seung-han Reporter