Court Orders Man Behind False Department Store Bomb Threat to Pay W12.56 Million in Full

[Anchor]

A man in his 20s who posted an online threat to blow up a department store has been ordered to pay over 12 million won. The court ruled that he must fully compensate for the labor costs and fuel expenses of the police mobilized because of his false threat.

Reporter Kim Gyu-ri has the story.

[Reporter]

In August of last year, a post threatening to blow up the main branch of Shinsegae Department Store was uploaded to an online website.

Although no explosives were found during the search, about 3,000 employees and customers were evacuated, and some 240 personnel—including military forces, police special commandos, and firefighters—were mobilized.

The following day, a comment saying "I will blow it up too" was posted on a news video covering the threatened bombing incident at Shinsegae Department Store.

Upon receiving the report, police deployed personnel once again for searches and security, and began tracking the suspect.

Police filed a damage lawsuit against a man in his 20s, identified as A, who was arrested in Hadong, South Gyeongsang Province, and the court ruled that he must pay approximately 12.56 million won.

This means he must pay the full amount of public security administration costs claimed by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, which calculated police labor costs and overtime allowances.

This is the first ruling ordering the full compensation of all wasted police resources since the public threat crime law went into effect in March of last year.

[Kim Bong-seok / Head of the Legal Affairs Unit, Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency: We plan to strictly process public threat offenders through the judicial system and maintain our stance of holding them fully accountable to the end for any damages incurred as a result.]

Previously, on the 24th of last month, the first ruling was issued for a damages lawsuit under the public threat crime law against a man in his 20s who posted a false threat the year before last to murder unspecified individuals at Yatap Station. In that case, the court ordered him to pay only about 14 million won, which is 27 percent of the roughly 55 million won calculated and claimed by the police as compensation.

(Video Editing: Ahn Yeo-jin, Design: Park Cheon-woong)

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