At least 13 injured in knife attack in Bundang

Social Affairs

Published: 03 Aug. 2023, 18:31 Updated: 03 Aug. 2023, 20:41

At least 13 injured in knife attack in Bundang

A police tape place on the scene of the attack at AK Plaza, a mall near Seohyeon Station in Bundang, Gyeonggi, on Thursday. Some 13 people were reported to have been attack including four that have been hit by the van driven by the 23 year-old suspect. [YONHAP]

At least 13 people are reported to have been injured in a vehicle and stabbing rampage that occurred at the AK Plaza shopping center near Seohyeon Station in Bundang, Gyeonggi, on Thursday afternoon.

The incident happened at 5:55 p.m., during the evening rush hour.

At least 13 people have been reported injured in the attack.

Four were hit by a compact vehicle driven by the suspect, currently in custody, while nine were injured in the knife attack itself.

Twelve were reportedly sent to a nearby hospital.

No deaths have so far been reported, while most of the injuries do not appear to be life-threatening.

Police apprehended one assailant at the scene and are investigating if he had an accomplice.

The man in custody is 23 years old.

The police said the attacker works in the delivery service and has shown symptoms of paranoid delusions.

Not long after the attack, a video of the attacker carrying the knife walking causally heading toward an escalator circulated on Twitter.

Bundang police received a call around 6 p.m. that a compact vehicle had jumped the sidewalk and approached the shopping mall, hitting pedestrians.

Around the same time, an emergency response team received a call that a man was attacking people.

According to unconfirmed witness reports on Twitter, two assailants jumped out of the van after careening into pedestrians on the pavement outside the mall.

"At first, I thought it was a hide-and-seek game by some of the Scouts [attending the World Jamboree]," said one Twitter user. "But when I entered the AK Plaza, there was blood."

Authorities are still working to determine the number of casualties.

The latest incident came two weeks after a 33-year-old man, Jo Seon, attacked passersby with a knife near Sillim Station in Gwanak District, southern Seoul, on July 21.

One of the four men who was stabbed in that incident died from his wounds.

At the time of his arrest, Jo told police committed the attack out of anger and wanted others to feel miserable like him.

According to police, Jo had a criminal record and had been in and out of juvenile court.

He had no stable job and worked mostly at part time jobs, including delivery and construction.

Since his attack, police have had to deal with several more threatened attacks.

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]