Man stabbed by colleague near Gwanghwamun; suspect flees

By Jung Joo-won, The Herald Business

A man in his 40s was seriously wounded Friday morning after being stabbed by a colleague at the Ilmin Museum of Art in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Police are tracking a suspect in his 70s who fled immediately after the attack. A bystander who saw the victim shortly after the incident said he "was losing a great deal of blood."

According to the Jongno Police Station, a report came in at around 7:47 a.m. Friday that "a man in his 40s had been stabbed in the arm with a sickle" at the Ilmin Museum of Art on Sejongno in Jongno-gu. The building where the attack occurred is adjacent to the Sejongno intersection.

The victim, identified only by his surname initial A, received emergency treatment at the scene before being transported to a hospital. Police said his life is not in danger.

According to police, A had been working at a Dong-A Ilbo affiliate and had submitted his resignation, using up his remaining annual leave. He had come to the office Friday to collect his personal belongings when a colleague, identified only as B, a man in his 70s who worked at the same company, attacked him.

The attack took place in a fourth-floor office at the museum, where police believe the two men got into an altercation during a conversation. The two were said to have had a poor relationship.

Eyewitness Lee Dong-hwan, 74, said he arrived at the scene around 7:40 a.m. to set up a petition booth and found a man sitting on the stairs at the museum entrance, bleeding. "An employee in a white dress shirt was beside him helping apply pressure to the wound, and the victim kept groaning," Lee said.

Lee added that he initially wondered why the man was bleeding so heavily, but upon getting closer saw that the victim was seated clutching his arm. "Blood kept dripping around the stairs and onto the floor behind him — enough to form puddles," he said.

People near the victim began administering first aid, and an ambulance arrived three to four minutes later, with firefighters taking him to a hospital.

Officers who responded to the report secured the area around the scene while launching a search for the suspect, who was believed to be traveling by subway or other public transit. "We are tracking the suspect, who is currently fleeing," a police official said. "After apprehending him, we plan to investigate the exact motive and circumstances of the incident."