Friday in Daejeon, South Korean police arrested a man suspected of stabbing a high school teacher with a knife. The stabbing follows a separate, apparently random incident near a busy metro station in Seongnam on Thursday, in which 14 people were injured.
The Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency did not immediately disclose the suspect's personal information, describing him only as a man in his late 20s who attacked a teacher at Songchon High School on Friday morning.
South Korea Stabbing Rampages
According to investigators, the suspect waited for the teacher to exit the classroom before stabbing him and fleeing the scene, which suggests that they were acquainted. Authorities from the police and fire departments did not specify the educator's health condition.
The attack in Daejeon, approximately 120 kilometers (75 miles) south of Seongnam, occurred hours after President Yoon Suk Yeol called for "ultra-strong" law enforcement measures to restore confidence in public safety in the wake of Thursday's violence, which he described as a "terrorist attack on innocent citizens."
At least two people were in critical condition following Thursday's attack in Seongnam, in which a car drove onto a sidewalk before the driver stepped out and began randomly stabbing people at a shopping mall connected to the Seohyeon subway station in the heart of the city's leisure and business district.
At least two of the five persons injured by the automobile were hospitalized in critical condition. According to officials from the fire department in the province of Gyeonggi, eight of the nine individuals who were stabbed sustained severe injuries.
Per NBC News, the police are questioning the suspect. They did not identify the suspect or provide any information regarding a possible motive.
During police interviews, the suspect spoke incoherently and claimed an unidentified source was following him, according to an official from the Bundang district police station in Gyeonggi, Park Gyeong-won.
The suspect bought the two knives he used in the stabbings from a different retail mall on Wednesday, according to Park, but there is no solid evidence that he planned the attack beforehand.
According to Park Gyeong-won, an official at the Bundang district police station in Gyeonggi, a suspect spoke incoherently during police interviews and claimed an unnamed source was following him. According to the suspect's family, he had a history of mental illness.
While the suspect purchased the two knives he used in the stabbings from a different retail facility on Wednesday, there is no evidence that he planned the attacks in advance, according to Park. The assault was the second mass stabbing in South Korea in a month.
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South Korean Authorities Plan to Combat Stabbing, Other Attacks
Per ABC News, one person was killed last month when a man brandishing a knife attacked at least four pedestrians on a street in the capital, Seoul.
According to Seoul's presidential office, Yoon Suk Yeol called for tighter surveillance of social media to detect threats and the deployment of more law enforcement officers for prevention and improved suppression equipment.
Ha Dong-Geun, an official with the provincial fire department of Gyeonggi, stated that at least two of those injured when the suspect drove onto the sidewalk were hospitalized in critical condition. Eight of the nine stabbed individuals were evaluated for significant injuries.
Photos taken at the crime site depicted forensic units investigating the halls of the AK Plaza, where the stabbings occurred. Near the metro station, a white Kia hatchback with a shattered front window and a punctured front tire was spotted on the sidewalk.
The South Korean newspaper Kyunghyang Shinmun published on its website a video that it claimed was sent by a witness. The video showed a man wearing eyeglasses and a black parka carrying an object while ascending the mall's escalator.
A witness named Hwang Hee-woon told YTN television that he "heard what sounded like a shriek coming from the first floor, so customers and shop employees gathered on the escalator railings on the second floor to see what was happening below."
The National Police Agency held an online meeting with regional police chiefs to discuss methods to combat arbitrary stabbings and other attacks. According to the agency, officials discussed increasing nocturnal patrols in entertainment districts and other densely populated areas and enhancing security camera surveillance.
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