A man in his 20s who posted a false threat online to blow up a Shinsegae department store must reimburse the government 12.57 million won ($9,100) for police labor and other policing costs incurred in the response, in what police called the first case in which a court ordered full repayment of security administration costs wasted on an online threat.
The Seoul Central District Court ruled in favor of the government on the 28th of last month in a damages suit it filed against the poster, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said on the 2nd.
The case began in August last year when a false threat to blow up a Shinsegae department store was posted on YouTube.
After receiving the report, police stepped up patrols around the store, searched the site and began tracking the poster in case the threat was genuine. A total of 277 officers were deployed.
Police arrested the man in his 20s in Hadong, South Gyeongsang Province.
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency then calculated police wages, overtime pay, fuel and meal costs from the response and filed a damages claim totaling 12,567,881 won.
The court held the poster liable for the full amount of the losses to state coffers as calculated by police. The man must therefore repay the government about 12.57 million won spent on the police deployment.
Police said the ruling marks the first case requiring full repayment of policing costs incurred because of a threatening post online.
"Even a single threatening post made as a prank leads to a large-scale police deployment, and the cost is ultimately borne by taxpayers," the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said. "We will strictly punish those who make public threats and hold them fully accountable for the damage they cause."
