Weapon possession, online threats to be punished

South Korea’s Special Operation Unit patrols the Gangnam Station Underground Shopping Center on Sunday. (Yonhap)

As murder threats are sparking grave fears in South Korea following the recent deadly stabbing rampage in Bundang, the Justice Ministry said Wednesday that it would create new legal provisions to seek punishment for writers of online murder threats or those possessing weapons in public places.

Upon the recommendation of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office to amend laws related to public intimidation, the ministry said it would set up new criminal punishment provisions after reviewing legislative precedents in countries such as the United States and Germany that punish acts of threatening the public.

The new legal framework is aimed at targeting words and language posted online that strike fear into the lives and bodies of members of the public, including murder threats targeting a group of unspecified people, the ministry explained.

“Fear has grown among the public recently, as the crime of posting murder threats targeting the public has become common on social media, but concerns have loomed that there could be a ‘punishment vacuum’ due to the lack of legal regulations to punish such posters directly,” the ministry said via a notice sent to the press.

It said that it would team up with the Korea Communications Commission, the state organization that oversees the media, to establish regulations to block the distribution of such information as well.

Also, the ministry said it would come up with new legal provisions to penalize those carrying weapons in public spaces without a justifiable reason or while taking public transportation used by the majority that could be used for criminal activities like murder or assault.

In light of the three recent back-to-back knife attacks here, police have opened investigations into 67 people for making copycat online murder threats. Among them, six authors, including two teenagers, have been put under formal arrest as of Wednesday morning, according to the prosecution.