South Korea Police Returned Knife to Man With Attempted Murder Record Before Attack Injured Eight

South Korea police returned a kitchen knife to Choi Choong-rak after a hospital protest in Incheon on 9 September, before he allegedly injured eight people on 13 October, a report citing police data states.

The suspect had come under investigation over the protest before the attack. Officers seized a weapon on 6 October, confirmed his attempted murder record and electronic tracking anklet, and notified his probation officer, but did not take him into custody.

The attack took place during the afternoon at a large commercial facility in the city's Namdong-gu district. One of those injured, a 19-year-old woman, remained unconscious at the time of the report.

South Korea Police Responded to Hospital Protest

Information from the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency, obtained by People Power Party representative Park Sang-woong, sets out the earlier police response. Park is a member of the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee.

Choi had been staging a one-person protest outside a hospital in Gyeyang-gu, Incheon, when police received a report at about 10:10am on 9 September. The report to police stated, 'Someone is holding a kitchen knife during a one-person protest, which makes me anxious.'

Officers attended and listened to his explanation. Choi told them he 'carried a kitchen knife because there was no utility knife,' according to the report.

The police stored the knife at a nearby district police unit and closed the case at the scene. After the protest concluded, they returned the weapon to Choi.

Hospital Complaint Led South Korea Police To Investigate

The matter was revisited only after a complaint about the same incident reached the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's Safety Sinmungo portal. That submission prompted an investigation following the initial decision to close the case.

Police interviewed hospital officials before questioning Choi on 6 October over carrying a weapon in a public place. The inquiry concerned Choi's possession of a weapon during his protest outside the hospital.

Choi voluntarily submitted the weapon, which police seized. During that investigation, officers confirmed his criminal record for attempted murder and that he was wearing an electronic tracking anklet.

The account places confirmation of his criminal history in the October investigation. It does not establish whether the officers who returned the knife in September knew about that record at the time.

His probation officer was notified that he had been booked. Choi was not taken into custody, and the account does not explain why officers did not detain him before the later attack.

Suspect Told South Korea Police He Wanted Attention

The attack occurred after those inquiries and the notification to Choi's probation officer. It was at a commercial facility in Namdong-gu, a different Incheon district from the hospital where he had protested.

Whether the September knife was involved in the attack is not established in the report. The account describes police returning it after the protest, then seizing a weapon before the violence.

No explanation from police for returning the knife after the September protest appears in the report. It also does not detail Choi's grievances or establish any wrongdoing by the hospital where he had protested.

During questioning after the attack, Choi told police he had committed the crime to make news and draw society's attention to his grievances against the hospital where he had staged the one-person protest in September.