Incheon knife attacker had history of violent crimes

Suspect avoided jail term with his first attempted murder in 2004

The 59-year-old man under investigation for Tuesday’s stabbing attack in Incheon was found to have committed a series of serious crimes but never served a prison sentence exceeding four years, an analysis of the court rulings for his past crimes showed Thursday.

The suspect, whose identity is currently withheld, injured eight people in the attack at a commercial complex in Guwol-dong, Incheon, around 1:40 p.m. on Tuesday. A 19-year-old victim suffered a cardiac arrest and remains unconscious and on a ventilator as of Thursday.

When asked why he carried out the attack, the suspect told police that it was to get attention for the grudge he has against a local hospital. He also said to have picked the victims because "they looked weaker than me."

Police have requested a warrant for his formal arrest, and the Incheon District Court will review it Friday.

Relatively light punishment for crimes

Court rulings indicated he had several violent outbursts in the prior years.

The suspect was convicted of his first crime in September 2004, following a dispute with his landlord over the return of his housing deposit. He stabbed an employee of the real estate office who brokered the rent deal, and was convicted of attempted murder.

While the first-instance ruling sentenced him to five years in prison, citing that the attack was not planned and he had no prior criminal record at the time, the second-instance ruling handed him 30 months in prison, suspended for three years.

He was convicted again three years later when he stabbed his girlfriend after she had attacked him with the same knife. The court sentenced him to another suspended prison term, as the girlfriend initiated the attack and neither party sought criminal punishment of their attacker.

The two married and subsequently divorced before he attempted to murder her in 2015. The victim refused to reengage in a romantic relationship with the suspect, which led to him stabbing her multiple times on the arm, hand and near the heart.

He was found guilty of attempted murder and was sentenced to four years in prison and ordered to wear an electronic ankle monitor for 10 years after his release in 2019.

It was reported that the suspect had nine criminal records in total before the most recent attack.

An attempted murder is punishable by between five years in prison and the death penalty, but it is possible to avoid jail time. Past rulings have halved punishment for attempted crimes, and sentences can be suspended when the jail term is three years or less.

The suspect's 30-month punishment for his first crime falls just under the threshold for getting a suspended term.