Teen in South Korea arrested over mall bomb threat, 4,000 evacuated

A middle-school student in South Korea was arrested on Wednesday over an online bomb threat that led to about 4,000 people being evacuated from a major department store in Seoul.

Police tracked the male teen suspect to his home in Jeju city at 7pm local time (6pm Hong Kong time) on Tuesday, using the internet protocol (IP) address from a post made on the online forum DC Inside, according to the Korea Times.

Titled “Shinsegae Department Store Bombing Notice”, the message posted around noon warned that there were explosives planted on the first floor of the complex that would be detonated at 3pm on Tuesday, urging online users to avoid the venue.

The Korea Times reported that more than 240 police and emergency personnel were deployed for the bomb search after a report was made at lunchtime that day. The store resumed normal operations later in the afternoon after no explosives were found.

Vowing to pursue damages from the culprit, the Shinsegae department store condemned the bomb scare in a statement, estimating losses from the 2½-hour incident at up to 600 million won (US$431,000).

Yonhap news agency reported that the boy, identified as a juvenile by police, was in his first year of middle school and faced charges of public intimidation. He had admitted to the online post during questioning.