A man in his 50s who wounded eight people in a knife attack at a large commercial complex in Incheon's Guwol-dong said he "deserves to die" as he appeared for a pre-detention hearing. He claimed the attack was driven by side effects from hospital treatment and pressure from a civil lawsuit.
The 59-year-old suspect, identified only as A, who faces charges of attempted murder and carrying a knife in a public place, appeared at the Incheon District Court on the afternoon of the 16th for the hearing. In his first appearance before the media since the attack, he covered his face with a hat and a mask. His handcuffed hands were concealed under a cover.
Asked by reporters why he had attacked strangers and whether he had anything to say to the victims, he replied: "I am sorry. I have committed a crime deserving death." Asked why he had chosen the location and why he was carrying 6.8 million won (about $4,800) in cash, he said: "I wasn't planning to flee. I did it because of the pressure." He added: "I was advised that the hospital would take every last penny from me, so I withdrew the money to donate it if it came to that. Fleeing was absolutely not the reason."
He went on to claim: "I held a one-man protest for two and a half months over the side effects of hospital treatment, but instead they pressured me through a civil suit. There was pressure from a lawyer saying they would scrape away every last penny through the civil case." Asked whether he had committed the attack to draw attention, he said: "That's not it. It's because they created a situation where I had no choice but to fall off a cliff." Asked whether he had targeted only vulnerable people, he answered: "No."
A relative of one of the victims, who had been waiting in front of the court, shouted "Why did you do it?" at the suspect as he stepped out of a police van.
The suspect is accused of stabbing 10 people with a knife in an attempt to kill them at the see&see commercial building in Guwol-dong, Namdong-gu, Incheon, at about 1:48 p.m. on the 13th of this month. Eight people were injured in the attack, including a 19-year-old woman who was left unconscious. The remaining two were found to be unharmed.
During police questioning, the suspect was reported to have said he had a grievance against the hospital where he received treatment for a skin condition, and that a report filed by the hospital had led to a police investigation of him. He said he carried out the attack to create news coverage because he wanted to make his grievance publicly known, according to the account. He is known to have 10 prior convictions carrying fines or heavier penalties, including two previous cases of attempted murder.
Park Young-ki, the senior judge in charge of warrants at the Incheon District Court, began the hearing at 2 p.m. A decision on whether to detain the suspect is expected late in the day.