Police and the military launched an emergency search after threatening emails warning of explosives being planted at several courts nationwide were sent one after another. No explosives have been found so far.
According to police and others, at about 10:26 a.m. on the 26th, an employee of the Cheongju District Court received an email to the court's shared email account warning of explosives being planted and reported it to police.
The email said, "I have installed makeshift bombs at the Cheongju District Court and nearby. They will explode between 1:34 p.m. and 7:30 p.m." The sender reportedly did not reveal an identity and introduced the sender as a member of a Japanese idol group.
Once the report was filed, the Cheongju District Court ordered an emergency evacuation of about 300 people, including judges and staff. About 70 members of the police SWAT team, the military Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit, and fire authorities searched inside and outside the building for about 1 hour and 30 minutes, but no explosives or suspicious objects were found.
At 12 p.m. that day, similar threatening emails were received by the Jeonju District Court and the Gwangju High Court. It was confirmed that emails warning of explosives being planted were also sent one after another to other regional courts, including the Daejeon District Court, the Daejeon Family Court, the Incheon District Court, and the Suwon High Court.
Police deployed SWAT teams and others to each court to search inside the buildings and surrounding areas while tightening security. Police believe the sender used an overseas server and a VPN (virtual private network) to send the emails and are tracking the sender.