A man in his 40s who threatened passersby with a knife near a Han River park in Seoul on the final day of the Chuseok holiday faces a court decision on whether he will be detained.
Kim Ji-hyun, the senior judge in charge of warrants at the Seoul Southern District Court, was set to hold a pre-detention questioning session at 10:30 a.m. on the 29th for the suspect, surnamed Cheon, who is accused of carrying a knife in a public place.
Arriving at the court wearing a black cap, Cheon told reporters who asked why he had threatened passersby and why he had tried to enter a cafe, "I haven't done anything wrong."
Cheon is accused of wielding a knife and threatening passersby near Yanghwa Han River Park in Yeongdeungpo District at about 3:45 p.m. on the 27th. When he raised the knife and shouted in the street, passersby fled into a nearby cafe. He tried to enter the cafe with the knife but was unable to get in because those inside locked the door, preventing any injuries.
Under the criminal code, carrying a knife in a public place — a road, park or other space used or accessible by an unspecified number of people — without justifiable reason and displaying it in a way that causes public anxiety or fear is punishable by up to three years in prison or a fine of up to 10 million won. Seoul's Yeongdeungpo Police Station requested an arrest warrant for Cheon a day earlier.
