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No bomb found after online threat prompts moviegoers' evacuation in Seoul

Published: 09 Nov. 2025, 13:43

The picture shows the Lotte Department Store [JOONGANG ILBO]

About 100 people were evacuated from a Seoul department store after a fake bomb threat was posted online, but no explosives were found, authorities said Sunday.

The threat appeared late Saturday on the online community DC Inside, warning readers to "bolt out of the Lotte Department Store in Seoul right now" and claiming that five explosives had been planted on the second floor, according to police and fire officials.

An anti-terrorism response team and other officers were dispatched to 10 Lotte Department Store branches in Seoul, but no explosives were discovered.

All of the stores had already closed for the day, but about 100 moviegoers at a cinema inside a Lotte Department Store in northern Seoul were evacuated as a precaution, officials said.

Police said they are tracing the internet protocol address — the online equivalent of a street address or phone number — used to post the threat to identify the suspect.

Yonhap