A manager in their 20s who had been feuding with a female internet broadcaster has been arrested on suspicion of injuring her with a bladed weapon.
The Ansan Sangnok Police Station in Gyeonggi Province said on the 13th that it had sought an arrest warrant for the suspect, identified only as A, on charges of aggravated injury and preparation for murder.
A is accused of swinging a bladed weapon at a female streamer, identified as B, at a restaurant in the Sangnok district of Ansan at about 5:20 p.m. the previous day, injuring her neck, and of pouring hot water on her body.
A passerby who witnessed the scene reported it to police, and officers who responded arrested A at the scene.
Police found that A had worked as a manager moderating the chat window on B's internet broadcasts. The two later fell out, A quit the job, and the pair continued to feud, disparaging each other through the broadcast chat window and other channels, according to police.
The conflict escalated after B asked the Cyber Bureau of the National Police Agency how to file a criminal complaint against A for defamation and then disclosed the inquiry on air, the investigation found. Police believe A held a grudge over that and planned the attack.
Police found that A brought a bladed weapon on the day of the incident and went to B's residence. When B fled to a nearby restaurant during a confrontation, A followed and carried out the attack, according to the investigation.
The specific reason the two first fell out has not been determined.
"We applied the charge of preparation for murder as well, taking into account that the suspect prepared a bladed weapon before going to find the victim," a police official said. "Since we understand the suspect acted in the belief that a criminal complaint against them was imminent, we are also reviewing whether to apply charges of retaliatory crime."
