South Korea Tightens Security To Prevent Stabbing Copycats

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered police to mobilize all possible forces as a series of threats to commit copycat crimes were posted on social media after a stabbing rampage near Seoul injured 14 people.

"The stabbing rampage at Seohyeon subway station is an act of terrorism against innocent citizens,” Yoon said Friday, according to presidential spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye. Yoon instructed police to deploy security personnel with suppression equipment to prevent another attack.

Fourteen people were injured after a man drove a car onto a pedestrian walkway and went on the stabbing rampage at a department store in the affluent district south of Seoul on Thursday. Nine people were stabbed and five others were hit by the car - with two of victims in critical condition, according to the fire and disaster center in Gyeonggi province.

Police arrested the 22-year-old suspect who was diagnosed with schizophrenic personality disorder through psychiatric treatment two to three years ago, Yonhap News Agency reported. Police have only released the family name of the suspect, Choi.

Fear of random crime is growing as copycat crime threats were posted online hours after the attack. One of them threatened to kill 20 people Friday morning at Jamsil Station, one the most busiest subway stations in Seoul and connected to the tallest building in the country, according to Yonhap.

Thursday's attack came less than two weeks after a 33-year-old man fatally stabbed a stranger in his 20s near Sillim Station in Seoul and attacked three more men in a nearby alleyway. During the investigation, police reported the suspect as saying he "wanted to make other people miserable” because he was living a miserable life, Yonhap said.

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