[Anchor]
A woman in her 50s went on a stabbing rampage at Severance Hospital in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, leaving a psychiatry professor severely injured. Police are considering applying attempted murder charges against the woman.
Reporter Park Jaehyeon has the details.
[Reporter]
The knife attack occurred at around 4:30 PM yesterday (November 4) at the Department of Psychiatry at Sinchon Severance Hospital in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul.
A woman in her 50s, identified as A, suddenly entered an examination room, pulled out a weapon she had brought in a shopping bag, and attacked a psychiatry professor.
The victim sustained 5-centimeter-long slash wounds to the face, arms, and head, and was rushed to the emergency room for treatment. He is reportedly not in life-threatening condition.
[Severance Hospital Official: Everything regarding a patient's condition falls under privacy information. We cannot know either.]
Hospital staff subdued woman A immediately after the crime, and police dispatched to the scene arrested her on charges of special assault about 10 minutes later.
Immediately following her arrest, woman A reportedly incoherent, making statements such as, "I originally meant to go to a different general hospital, but came to the wrong place."
It was found that woman A had not visited the hospital with an outpatient appointment scheduled with the victimized professor, and has a history of receiving treatment for mental illness at multiple hospitals, including Severance Hospital.
Following the incident in December 2018 where Professor Lim Se-won of the psychiatry department at Kangbuk Samsung Hospital in Seoul was killed by a patient wielding a weapon during a consultation, the so-called "Lim Se-won Act" to strengthen penalties for assaulting medical personnel passed the National Assembly.
However, this attack targeting medical staff during treatment could not be prevented once again.
Police are investigating woman A's motive for the crime while also considering applying charges of attempted murder.
(Camera footage by Kang Si-woo | Video editing by Shin Se-eun)
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