Eight people were wounded in a stabbing at a supermarket in the South Korean city of Incheon on Tuesday, with one woman in cardiac arrest, police said. Officers responding to the scene arrested a male suspect and are investigating the motive and circumstances of the attack.
A witness cited by Yonhap News Agency said the suspect appeared to have knives tethered to both hands and moved through several floors of the shopping complex, attacking people as he went, before being subdued by bystanders and handed over to police.
What is known so far
South Korean media reports described the suspect as a man in his 60s who was wearing an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet. The victims included six women and two men, with a woman in her 20s in cardiac arrest, according to the reports.
The Korea Times reported that the attack took place at around 1.40 pm local time, with the suspect striking shoppers while riding an escalator between the second basement level — where a Homeplus supermarket is located — and the second floor above ground. All eight victims were taken to hospitals, and an emergency medical centre was set up on the building's first floor in case of additional casualties.
Police have not yet established a motive. No victims have been publicly identified, and the investigation is continuing.
A wider pattern
Incheon, west of Seoul, is home to South Korea's main airport and forms part of the wider Seoul metropolitan area. South Korea is generally considered a safe country, with a homicide rate of 1.3 per 100,000 people in 2021, according to official statistics — well below the global average of about six per 100,000.
The country has, however, seen a number of stabbing attacks in recent years. It was shaken by a series of stabbing rampages in 2023, and more recently a 17-year-old girl was fatally stabbed and another teenager hurt in the southwestern city of Gwangju in May — an attack for which the assailant was later sentenced to life in prison.
Sources:
- Eight people hurt in supermarket stabbing in South Korea's Incheon — CNA (Reuters)
- 8 injured in Incheon knife attack — The Korea Times
A witness cited by Yonhap News Agency said the suspect appeared to have knives tethered to both hands and moved through several floors of the shopping complex, attacking people as he went, before being subdued by bystanders and handed over to police.
What is known so far
South Korean media reports described the suspect as a man in his 60s who was wearing an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet. The victims included six women and two men, with a woman in her 20s in cardiac arrest, according to the reports.
The Korea Times reported that the attack took place at around 1.40 pm local time, with the suspect striking shoppers while riding an escalator between the second basement level — where a Homeplus supermarket is located — and the second floor above ground. All eight victims were taken to hospitals, and an emergency medical centre was set up on the building's first floor in case of additional casualties.
Police have not yet established a motive. No victims have been publicly identified, and the investigation is continuing.
A wider pattern
Incheon, west of Seoul, is home to South Korea's main airport and forms part of the wider Seoul metropolitan area. South Korea is generally considered a safe country, with a homicide rate of 1.3 per 100,000 people in 2021, according to official statistics — well below the global average of about six per 100,000.
The country has, however, seen a number of stabbing attacks in recent years. It was shaken by a series of stabbing rampages in 2023, and more recently a 17-year-old girl was fatally stabbed and another teenager hurt in the southwestern city of Gwangju in May — an attack for which the assailant was later sentenced to life in prison.
Sources:
- Eight people hurt in supermarket stabbing in South Korea's Incheon — CNA (Reuters)
- 8 injured in Incheon knife attack — The Korea Times
