Hint of a knife rampage at Dongduk Women's University, bomb threats against KT... Police seek 26.57 million won in damages

[Financial News] Police have filed damages lawsuits in four public threat cases, including a post hinting at a knife rampage at Dongduk Women's University and bomb threats targeting major companies such as KT's headquarters and Kakao Corp. The move is intended to seek civil liability, in addition to criminal punishment, for actions that waste administrative resources, including by requiring police deployment in response to terror threats.
The National Police Agency said on the 5th that it had filed a total of four damages lawsuits last month against people who posted messages in cases including a knife threat at Dongduk Women's University, bomb threats targeting KT's headquarters and Kakao Corp., and a terror threat against Jamsil Baseball Stadium. The total amount sought is 26.57 million won.
The knife-threat case at Dongduk Women's University stemmed from a post uploaded to the social networking service (SNS) X (formerly Twitter) on December 3 last year. The poster shared a news article reporting that Dongduk Women's University had switched to coeducation, along with a photo of a small knife in a bag, and wrote “ready for school,” hinting at a knife rampage. On the 28th of last month, police sought 3.47 million won in damages at the Seoul Central District Court.
A lawsuit was also filed over bomb threats targeting KT's headquarters and Kakao Corp. One person sent a total of 10 bomb-threat emails targeting KT's headquarters, Kakao Corp.'s Pangyo and Jeju facilities, Naver, Samsung Electronics, Toss Bank and others from December 15 last year to February 16 this year. On the 28th of last month, police filed a damages lawsuit seeking 20.22 million won with the Anyang Branch of the Suwon District Court.
Separately, in a case involving a threat email sent this year on January 5 that said KT's headquarters would be bombed, police filed a damages lawsuit seeking 1.13 million won at the Seoul Central District Court that same day.
The terror threat targeting Jamsil Baseball Stadium was also included in the lawsuits. On October 28 last year, a threatening post was published on the SNS platform Threads, saying that violence could break out in connection with cheering for Hanwha and that there could be bloodshed. On the 30th of last month, police sought 1.75 million won in damages from the poster at the Seoul Central District Court.
Since the public threat offense took effect in March last year, police have operated damages review committees at provincial and metropolitan police agencies nationwide since September of that year. Before these four cases, police had filed five damages lawsuits related to public threats, false reports and other incidents.
Police won in full in the Shinsegae Department Store bomb-threat case, which occurred on August 5 last year. They recovered the full amount of damages—about 12 million won—calculated to include the base salaries of the officers who responded.
Police also won in part at the first trial in a lawsuit against the person who posted a threat predicting a murder at Yatap Station; the appeal is now underway.
Police plan to continue actively considering damages claims, in addition to criminal punishment, against acts involving public threats and false reports that cause public anxiety and waste police administrative resources.
[email protected] Kim Ye-ji Reporter