Courts across South Korea receive bomb threat emails; police search premises

Courts across South Korea, including in Seoul, received emails claiming that explosives had been planted on their premises, prompting police to conduct searches. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's cyber investigation unit plans to identify the sender.

The Songpa Police Station in Seoul received a report Wednesday afternoon that a bomb threat email had been sent to the Seoul Eastern District Court in Songpa-gu, and officers launched a search of the premises.

According to police, the email stated: "I will detonate a homemade bomb at the Seoul Eastern District Court between 1:34 p.m. and 7:30 p.m." Investigators believe the same message was sent to multiple courts with only the recipient court's name changed.

A total of 35 police officers and 21 firefighters were deployed to conduct the search, but no suspicious objects were found.

The Seoul Western District Court also received an identical email, and police carried out a search there as well. Staff at the Western District Court were not evacuated.

The courts that received the threat emails included the Seoul Western and Eastern district courts, as well as the Seoul Central District Court, Seoul Northern District Court, Jeonju District Court, Cheongju District Court and Incheon District Court.

Police believe the email address used in this case is similar to one linked to a previous crime, and on that basis the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's cyber investigation unit is set to take over the case. The Songpa Police Station will gather information related to the Eastern District Court incident and hand it over to the cyber unit.