South Korean police on Wednesday said they were investigating a man in his fifties for obstruction of public duties after he prank-called the police hundreds of times "just because he was lonely."

The suspect was taken in by police after he called the 112 emergency service twice for no reason at around 12:55 p.m. on Tuesday. The man was drunk at the time, and told the officers who arrived on the scene the first time that he called "just because."

Thirty minutes later he called the police again and told the officers that he "no longer wanted to live." When officers arrived the second time, he told them he called police "because he was lonely."

Investigation found that he called the 112 service 399 times in the span of a year for no reason.

Obstruction of the performance of official duties, stipulated in the Article 136 of the Criminal Act, can be punished by up to five years in prison or a 10 million won ($7,500) fine.