Woman attacks police with acid inside station

Four police officials have been burned with acid after a woman attacked them on Monday morning inside the Gwanak police station.

The woman, surnamed Jun, 38, entered the Gwanak police station in southern Seoul with a bag in her right hand, claiming she had an appointment with the cybercrime unit. She went to the cyber crime investigation office, removed a fruit knife from her bag and began kicking desks and shouting.

“Why didn’t you listen to my stories?” she demanded to know.

Four officers restrained Jun and led her out of the office into the hallway, where she momentarily calmed down before suddenly taking a plastic thermos out of her bag, uncapping it and pouring its contents on Sergeant Park, 44, who began to scream.

The acid from the thermos left Sargeant Park with third-degree burns on his neck. Three police officers who tried to stop Jun were also burned in the process.

Jun filed a complaint with Gwanak’s cybercrime unit in September 2013, saying her former boyfriend was harassing her. Park was in charge of investigating the accusation at the time, but the case was dropped due to lack of evidence.

In her testimony to police, Jun said that she had “no dissatisfaction” regarding the police’s investigation of her case.

Nevertheless, on Feb. 9, the windows of two houses located on the first floor of a one-room apartment in Gwanak were broken, and after inspecting CCTV footage, police suspected Jun, who lived on the second floor of the building.

Jun didn’t respond to her police summons, but instead asked Park to speak on her behalf. Park, however, declined Jun’s request by telling her he wasn’t in charge of the case.

“I looked forward to Sergeant Park hearing me out and handling my case,” Jun later testified. “But I resented the fact that he wouldn’t contact me, so that’s why I did it.”

The police requested on Monday an arrest warrant against Jun on a charge of obstruction of justice resulting in injury. The police also plan to further investigate the damage to the apartment windows done in February, in which Jun is the suspect.

“We’re also investigating whether Jun has any history of psychiatric treatment,” added a police officer.

BY SOHN GUK-HEE [shin.sooyeon@joongang.co.kr]