(Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald)
Prosecutors indicted a total of 32 individuals in connection with online murder threats between August and December 2023, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office said Sunday.
Out of the 189 individuals referred to the public prosecutor's office on charges including attempted murder, intimidation and obstruction of justice, 32 have been formally indicted and are being held in custody.
Most of those indicted had allegedly written online posts vowing to commit copycat crimes in the wake of a fatal stabbing rampage that occurred in the middle of the day near Sillim Station, southern Seoul, in July.
Specifically, individuals who had acquired weapons or posted detailed murder plans online have been indicted by prosecutors on charges of attempted murder. Those who posted detailed attack plans have also been charged with intimidation.
Those whose online posts alluded to potential murder rampages and sparked a police response were indicted on charges of obstructing the performance of official duties through fraudulent means.
Meanwhile, the number of murder threats posted online has been on the decline as investigative authorities are taking stricter countermeasures, according to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office.
The number of individuals sent to the prosecutor's office after being associated with such threats ranged from 40 to 50 per month between August and October, but this figure fell to 15 in December.
The prosecution vowed to put in the utmost effort to ensure that defendants sent to trial are sentenced to prison, and to actively appeal lighter sentences like probation to deter others from committing similar crimes.
“We will work to discourage copycat crimes and protect the public,” the Supreme Prosecutors' Office said.
The Ministry of Justice also filed a compensation suit against those who wrote online murder threats.
Following last year's stabbing incident at Sillim Station, where a man stabbed and killed one man and injured three, Korea witnessed a surge in copycat crimes and online posts threatening to commit similar attacks across the country.
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