Man who threatened mass murder on forum claims he did so to 'promote the site'

A man in his 20s was arrested for threatening to kill 30 people on an anonymous forum, prompting a large police response. Investigations into the community site and its operators are ongoing.

Special Operation Unit personnel patrol Yatap Station in Gyeonggi on Sept 23. [NEWS1]

A man in his 20s was arrested Wednesday after the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency said he'd threatened to murder at least 30 people on an anonymous forum, a post which resulted in the mobilization of more than 180 security personnel.

The unnamed man stated on the website, identified only as an “anonymous community board,” that he would “stab and kill at least 30 people at Yatap Station on Monday,” on Sept. 18, the agency's cyber investigation unit said Friday.

The precinct deployed special forces and armored vehicles around the station in Gyeonggi after screenshots of the post circulated on social media, with more than 180 personnel, including riot patrols, mobile units and civilian patrols mobilized on the specified date of Sept. 23. Although the number of personnel has since been reduced, heightened patrols have continued for nearly two months since.

The suspect, who claimed to be an employee of the community board, was charged with obstruction of official duties by intimidation and deceit. He admitted to having posted the threat, but said he'd done so in order “to promote the site.”

The agency is continuing to investigate the community website's operator and two other administrators, all men in their 20s, who are suspected of having neglected obscene links that were posted to the forum, in violation of the Information and Communications Network Act, which forbids the aiding and abetting the distribution of such material.

It remains unclear, as of now, whether the operator and administrators aided or directed the suspected author's actions, police said.

The website, which is currently inaccessible, does not appear to have generated revenue for its operators.

An armored police vehicle patrols the vicinity of Yatap Station on Sept. 23 [NEWS1]

The arrest follows a multi-week international investigation spanning both online and offline arenas.

Police uncovered that the community website in question, was run out of an office in Seoul since April, but hosted on U.S. servers.

The site's homepage described it as “A safe community that operates anonymously” and “A site that can be used without concern for IP tracking or personal information.”

The website's operator initially cooperated with the investigation as a witness, helping the authorities track the author of the threatening post. He reportedly refused to cooperate further, however, stating “We do not have information on the post's author.”

Police later obtained the location of the IP address that had logged into the U.S.-based server using the operator's account. On Oct. 29, they identified the office in Seoul, apprehending the operator and two others the same day. Police also conducted a search and seizure of the premises.

Subsequent investigation led the agency to identify the author of the post, who was arrested on Wednesday at 5:50 p.m. as he was walking down a street in Seoul, 56 days after the post's publication.

“There was no actual harm caused by the post, but it caused significant anxiety among local residents and wasted considerable public resources,” said a police official. “A threat of harm alone is sufficient to establish the crime of intimidation, so no one should post about attacks involving weapons for any reason.”

BY KIM MIN-YOUNG [kim.minyoung5@joongang.co.kr]