Man who threatened knife attack released with warning

A man in his 50s who called police and warned of a random knife attack was recently released with just a warning, local media outlets reported Monday.

According to a News1 report, officials of the Ilsan Seobu Police Station arrested a man in his 50s at around 9:50 p.m. on Nov. 5 after he called the 112 police emergency number and said he would kill many people at a bus terminal. "I will kill everyone at the terminal with a knife. Come quickly," he reportedly told police.

Officials found it had been a crank call made by the man, who was reportedly drunk at the time and has a history of making false reports with police. He was recently fined by a court in a different case and served time in jail after failing to pay the fine in time.

Police let the caller go with a warning, determining he was unarmed and posed no real threat. Officials were quoted as saying they also took into consideration that he had recently been released from prison and is advanced in age.

Officials did not reveal the exact reason he made the call to police, citing protection of personal information.

South Korea's Punishment of Minor Offenses Act stipulates that those making a false report to 112 can be punished by anywhere from an administrative fine to imprisonment without physical labor. The country recently added a clause to impose up to a 5 million won ($3,600) administrative fine specifically for such offenses.

The added clause was due to judiciary officials' tendency to refrain from punishing crank callers with criminal punishment. The new clause is to allow officials to impose a fine on the offender without giving them a criminal record.

By Yoon Min-sik(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)