Near a public parking lot in Hong-eun-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul. A mid-sized SUV rolls down its window, and three men in their 20s talk to an elementary school student carrying a bag. The elementary school students soon flee in fear.
This is a closed-circuit television (CCTV) scene released by the Seodaemun Police Station on the 5th. The police urgently arrested three individuals: a university student surnamed A, a self-employed individual surnamed B, and another university student surnamed C, and applied for arrest warrants against the two who led the crime on charges of attempted enticement of minors. The three are known to be friends since middle school and are in their early 20s.
They approached elementary school students around 3:30 p.m. on the 28th of last month after dining at a restaurant and said, "You're cute. I'll take you home," continuing their criminal acts three times. When they spoke to them, two elementary school students fled in fear, while some ignored them and walked past. Parents reported the incident to the police after hearing their children's accounts. The suspects communicated with the elementary school students from inside the car without getting out.
The two affected elementary schools had four boy victims, all in lower grades. According to the police, the suspects reportedly drank the night before, met up, ate jjambong, and joked, saying, "It's funny when the kids are scared." They allegedly planned the crime on the spot and are said to claim that they had no intention of actually taking the children away.
Some of the suspects have previous convictions. A police official noted, "There were no previous convictions of the same type, but we considered their past records when applying for the arrest warrants." However, it has been stated that there are no sexual crime convictions.
According to police, C, who was in the back seat, urged his friends, saying, "If things go wrong, it could become a serious crime," so an arrest warrant was not applied for him.
The police seized the vehicle and three mobile phones and are currently conducting forensic examinations. The vehicle has been identified as belonging to A's father. It is reported that A, who lived in Hong-eun-dong, drove this vehicle to attend university. There was no evidence of drug use or alcohol among the three at the time of the crime.
A police official said, "No evidence has been found to prove additional crimes," while noting, "We are viewing this seriously. We applied for the warrants based on the significant social anxiety and other aspects." The fact that they attempted the crime three times, rather than it being a one-time prank, was also cited as a reason for applying for the warrants.
Earlier, after the affected elementary school sent a notice through home communication indicating that there had been an attempted abduction near the school, the police refuted it, saying, "There is no such fact. It has been misunderstood among parents." However, after additional reports were received, the police retraced the criminal vehicle and captured the suspects sequentially.
In response to growing criticism, the police admitted that there were some limitations in the initial investigation. The vehicle reported during the first call was a white Starex, but the actual criminal vehicle was a gray Sorento, leading to confusion in the investigation. After additional reports were received near the public parking lot in Hong-eun-dong, further investigations were conducted, and they confirmed the crime by capturing footage of students fleeing.
However, surveillance footage from the initial report showed the Sorento vehicle stopped for about four seconds. This has led some to criticize that "the initial investigation was inadequate." A police official expressed regret about this aspect in response to related questions.
Two individuals who attempted to abduct children returning home near Hongje-dong Elementary School attended an arrest warrant examination at the Seoul Western District Court at 10:30 a.m. that day. They arrived in front of the court around 10:20 a.m. They did not answer questions from reporters about whether they had the actual intention to abduct.