A man in his 20s, who posted online threats to kill elementary school students and unspecified women, as well as to set fire to the Constitutional Court, has been handed over to prosecutors while in custody.
The Jungnang Police Station in Seoul stated on the 26th that a person surnamed Park (28) was transferred to custody on charges of violating the Child Welfare Act, intimidation, obstruction of official duties by deceit, and violating the Youth Protection Act.
Park is accused of posting a message on an online community in December of last year stating, "I will go to school next week and kill everyone," along with the names and images of weapons related to five female students attending an elementary school in Seoul.
Police tracked Park down through internet protocol (IP) address tracing and international cooperation, apprehending him in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province, on the 16th and placing him in custody on the 18th.
During the investigation, it was revealed that Park had posted messages on online communities from October of last year to February of this year, threatening to kill unspecified women at Dongduk Women's University, Sungshin Women's University, Bucheon Station, and Busan Station. He was also confirmed to have posted messages threatening to set off explosives in multiple-use facilities like KINTEX and to set fire to the Constitutional Court. He is also facing charges of posting, distributing, and possessing child pornography.
Police applied charges of obstruction of official duties by deceit, noting that there was a responsibility for the waste of public authority in response to Park's threatening messages.
As Park left the Jungnang Police Station around 8 a.m. that day, he responded to reporters' questions about why he wrote the threatening messages by saying, "I apologize." However, he did not answer questions regarding whether he acknowledged the allegations or why he posted child pornography, before getting into the police vehicle.