8 subway riders stabbed, cut

A man wielding a box-cutter stabbed or cut eight people at a subway station just outside of Korea’s capital after a teenager confronted him for spitting at him, police said yesterday.

No one died in the 10-minute rampage Saturday and the injuries weren’t life-threatening, according to three police officers who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to talk to the media.

Police arrested a man running away from the station in Uijeongbu, which is home to U.S. and Korean military bases, the officers said.

Such attacks are rare in Korea.

Police identified the suspect as a 39-year-old man surnamed Yoo.

Yoo began wielding a box cutter at an 18-year-old man surnamed Park inside the train when the victim confronted Yoo for spitting at him, police said.

Infuriated when Park said he would call the police, Yoo began brandishing the cutter on a train and then on a station platform until he was arrested, Uijeongbu Police Station said in a statement released yesterday.

Yoo, who is unemployed and lives alone, was on his way to find work in Seoul, police said.

AP