“What’s South Korea Coming To?” — Civilians Thrown Into Panic With 16 Warnings About Knife Attacks Over One Weekend

South Korea has been under a series of knife attacks recently. It started with a man attacking random passersby at Sillim Station on July 21, 2023. Soon after, more knife attacks begun springing up all over the country. On August 3, a man went around in a rampage in Bundang, one of the wealthier districts near Seoul. He attacked near Seohyun Station, hitting 5 people with his mother’s car, before stabbing 9 more with a knife.

Knife Rampage Leaves 14 Hospitalized, 12 In Critical Condition

The police apprehended another man with a knife on August 4, 2023, at Seoul’s Express Bus Terminal station, following an online warning.

Most of these knife terrors come with a pre-attack warning online. A bulk of these warnings are posted on DC Gallery, a male-dominated forum site. Another netizen compiled a list of all the warnings uploaded so far. The list contains 16 warnings of attacks to take place over the weekend of August 4 to 6, 2023.

List of warnings. | theqoo

Most of the warned attacks will take place in Seoul.

August 4

• Ori Station, 6 to 10pm
• Seohyun Station, to kill 20 men
• Jamsil Station, morning, to kill 20 people
• Nonhyun-dong, stabbing
• Hanti Station, 10pm, murder
• Daechi-dong, murder (unclear, was the same person who uploaded about the Hanti Station attack.)
• Gangnam Station, 7pm, to kill 100 people
• Gangnam Station, 7pm, to kill 100 women
• Gangnam Station, 7pm, to kill 40 men
• Wangsimri Station, murder
• Euijeongbu Station, murder

August 5

• Euijeongbu Station, murder
• Seomyeon Station (Busan), 5pm, stabbing of women
• Yongsan-Gu, 5pm, threat to kill the president

August 6

• Euijeongbu Station, stabbing

Unclear dates

• Yeoui-do
• Apgujeong Hyundai Department Store
• Seoul Subway Line 8

With the list of warnings lengthening by the hour, many are in fear. Some think that the knife attacks are increasing as a form of copycat murder, due to the first one that blew up at Sillim Station.

Netizen reactions. | theqoo

• They’re giving warnings like that, just because they want attention. That in itself angers me.
• Copy things that should be copied, ugh. This is just a way to make it obvious that they’re all stewing in their inferiority complex.
• Are they insane? F*ck.
• A party of mentally ill people.
• It totally became something people play at. The country needs to come up with a solution.
• Wow, almost all were uploaded via DC Gallery. What is [South Korea] coming to?
• Crazy.
• Aren’t they insane?
• Who planned the one at Yongsan? Cheering them on.
• Insane b*stards, FR.

A Tweet posting the list of warnings soon hit over 2.1 million views, with many QRTs expressing their fear.

칼부림예고 새로고침 할때마다 하나씩 느는 느낌인데 이게 맞나 싶기도 하고.. 다들 조심하세요 pic.twitter.com/fuh8KvuLap

— 테스터 (@testingview) August 4, 2023

Every time I refresh the list of warnings, it feels like it increases each time. I wonder if this is even possible… Everyone, be careful.

— Testingview

The police are on high vigilance for the weekend, due to the multiple threats. On the other hand, with many huge events such as BTS Suga’s Agust.D concert, and the World Scout’s Jamboree being held over the weekend, citizens cannot rest easy.