In a crowded tube car, a knife suddenly emerges. Attacker running towards shoppers and stabbing erratically in the street.
Following a large-scale stabbing attack last week—the nation’s second in as many weeks—many South Koreans have experienced these dreams.
On August 3, a man crashed his car into pedestrians near a subway stop in Seongnam, southeast of Seoul, injuring 14. He then fled into a department shop, where he stabbed nine people. A woman later passed away from her wounds.
Dazed by back-to-back stabbings in a country normally known for having low rates of violent crime, people in South Korea screamed out online, “What’s happening in South Korea these days?” thereafter.
One YouTube user wrote, “Recently, I can’t say that any more. Our country used to be one of the safest in the world.”
Just a few days prior, on 21 July, a different guy had attacked commuters in the city, murdering one person and slashing three more at a tube station. Later, he admitted to authorities that he was miserable and “wanted to make others miserable too.”
He may have given notes to the second attacker, evidence later revealed.
Deliveryman and high school dropout Choi Won-jong was identified as having schizoid personality disorder. The 22-year-old had reportedly searched Google for news about the first attack, which occurred at Sillim Station.
The “Mudjima” crimes
They are referred to as “Don’t Ask Why” or “Mudjima crimes” in South Korea and are violent acts committed against strangers for no apparent reason or personal connection to the perpetrators.
Although they have been known as Mudjima by the general public for many years, South Korean police did not formally classify these crimes as a separate category until 2022, when they were given the name “Abnormal Motive Crimes.”
The action seemed to demonstrate that authorities were now taking the crimes seriously by providing detailed definitions and establishing a task team to combat them. 18 Mudjima acts were reported by the police in the first half of this year.
The recent stabbings have fueled the notion that Mudjima actions are more regular and society is more unsafe, despite the fact that aggregate statistics shows no increase in violent crime and South Korea actually had its lowest rates in a decade last year.
It has even prompted some pundits to draw similarities to the US, with statements like “OMG South Korea has become the USA of Asia” and “It’s the American mentality that’s going viral in South Korea.”
But experts continue to say that South Korea is still a fairly safe place.
“Murder and other violent crime rates are very low compared to other countries, and they have been steadily declining in the last 10 years,” said Prof. Hyojong Song, a specialist in criminology at Korea University in Seoul.
With 1.3 murders per 100,000 inhabitants, South Korea’s homicide rate is half that of the OECD average and less than a fifth of that of the United States. There are also tight gun laws.
Many online claimed that the obvious analogies to the US hide the fact that local authorities must take action. “They need to look at South Korea’s own social issues that have led to this,” one person wrote.
Blood is seen on the sidewalk outside the business where the Seongnam stabbing crime occurred as a woman passes by.
Even while the information regarding the culprits is still vague, the little that has been published thus far has already increased popular rage.
In a line of comments that has grown popular online, one user said on Tiktok, “These days there are jobless losers who are taking their ills out on everyone else.”
Another claimed that “in the past, only psychopaths would do something like this, but now we live in a world where regular people are turning into murderers,” according to a YouTube comment. People lack optimism, and their levels of panic and happiness are both low.
In South Korean society, there are underlying social constraints that experts have identified, ranging from uncertain housing and career prospects to ongoing stigma surrounding mental health and a dearth of support resources. Choi, according to the police, did not receive proper care.
Fundamentally, according to Prof. Song, “I think we need some emotional and practical social support systems or policies that can help those who are disconnected from society and have no social bond.”
Duplicate dangers
Following the stabbing last week, there was a surge of threats that appeared, threatening copycat acts, which increased public fear.
Online postings specified precise times and places, and some even included the gender of the targets they wished to murder. A person declared their intention to “kill as many people as possible.”
Despite the fact that many thought they were the work of children and attention seekers, they were successful in frightening people.
Social media users issued alerts for the weekend of August 4-6. One TikTok video with the message “Please avoid these areas in South Korea” had more than 300,000 views in Asia.
The host, a North American expat living in Seoul, adds in the video, “Go ahead and screenshot this- here’s a list of public stabbings on the weekend.” A number of underground stations, as well as nightclubs, an amusement park, and a stop for a women’s university, were mentioned as potential attack locations.
They advise, “Be careful, be aware of your surroundings, and stay safe out there.”
Police in reaction launched a “special enforcement” operation over the weekend, sending tens of thousands additional cops to public locations. They were instructed to stop and search “suspicious-looking” individuals; at least one person was detained after being observed in public with a knife.
Authorities also responded to the online threats, using internet service provider addresses and tip-offs to identify individuals around the nation.
Following the weekend operation, police detained approximately 60 people, including 34 youths, some of whom were underage and weren’t subject to charges. They had discovered about 200 threats.
One 17-year-old boy was apprehended after threatening to attack someone at a Wonju train station and tipping off the authorities.
In a different incident, a 14-year-old was detained outside the tube stop he had designated as his intended target. He claimed to the police that he was “bored and posted it as a joke,” not that he intended to kill anyone.
A portion of the immediate public tension is waning as more and more days go by without an event.
But people’s thoughts of terror are still lingering. Weapons of protection like mace sprays are being carried by more people. More people are also becoming more cautious and alert near others in crowded places like tube platforms.
Excited fans on a night train coming from a BTS member’s concert last Saturday almost started a stampede when their shrieks of excitement were misinterpreted as cries of panic. Runaway passengers later recalled feeling as though they were in a zombie movie.
In its first week of operation, a web tool designed to map cyber dangers received more than 50,000 views, according to local media. Every day, new threats are still being recorded by the service.
On Wednesday, Korean media stated that within eight minutes of an internet threat going out, authorities had located its poster. The “acts of terror” have intensified political debate on criminal justice reform.
Last week, lawmakers pledged to pass laws to support draconian police tactics, reduce the age of criminal culpability, and impose heavier criminal penalties for mass stabbings. The nation’s justice minister stated on Monday that police use of force should be viewed as an act of self-defense.
Many people’s sentiments were expressed in an editorial published this week in the Korean Herald, which stated: “It is truly distressing to witness such brutal crimes perpetrated in a country known for a relatively good degree of public safety.
“It is imperative to conduct a thorough inquiry to determine the precise causes of the heinous killings. Police must take action to stop copycat crimes at the same time.
