Seoul: A middle school student has been apprehended as a suspect behind an online post that claimed to have installed an explosive at a major department store in Seoul, police said Wednesday. The boy, who is in the first year of middle school, was taken into custody Tuesday evening at his home on the southern island of Jeju, hours after allegedly posting on the community website DC Inside about placing a bomb at Shinsegae Department Store in central Seoul.
According to Yonhap News Agency, while no explosive was found at the department store, the bomb scare forced some 4,000 people to evacuate. Police plan to question the suspect, who faces charges of public intimidation, over the exact details of the incident.
Meanwhile, police were sweeping multiple branches of Shinsegae Department Store for possible explosives on Wednesday in response to another bomb threat. The searches took place at Shinsegae's department stores in Hanam, east of Seoul, and Yongin, south of Seoul, among other locations, after police received a report Tuesday night of a YouTube comment claiming a Shinsegae Department Store would be blown up.
A police official said the stores were expected to operate normally if police do not find anything before opening hours.