Victim Presses Smartwatch During Assault, But Police Wander for 20 Minutes: Why?

A victim under police protection made an emergency call using a smartwatch, but police deployment was delayed due to a location tracking error.

The Seoul Gangbuk Police Station received a smartwatch emergency report at around 11:20 p.m. yesterday (October 20) and was dispatched urgently.

The report was made by victim A, who had recently filed a separate case with the police and was issued a smartwatch for personal protection.

However, upon arriving at the scene, the police struggled to locate A.

This was because the location indicated by the smartwatch was about 200 meters away from the actual crime scene.

After wandering around the area for more than 20 minutes, the police found A in a parking lot near A's residence, discovered a man in his 40s named B assaulting A, and apprehended B on the spot.

B reportedly explained the reason for the assault during police questioning, stating, "I gave money to A, but I came looking because I didn't receive the goods."

While investigating the exact circumstances of the incident involving A and B, the police are also checking the cause and technical defects that led to the error in the smartwatch's location information.

According to the Korean National Police Agency, over the past five years, 17 victims equipped with smartwatches have been murdered, and 10 cases have resulted in attempted murder.

Reported by Park Se-won | Video by Kim Min-ji | Graphics by Yook Do-hyun | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.