Profiler: Incheon stabbing rampage was 'mass terror' — taping blades to both hands seen as first of its kind in Korea

A profiler said the Incheon stabbing suspect's method — taping blades to both hands and scattering cash-filled envelopes to lure victims — clearly showed the intent of "mass terror": inflicting death and injury on multiple people to spread fear.

Bae Sang-hun, a professor of police and criminal psychology at Woosuk University, said in a YTN Radio interview Wednesday that the attack by suspect A, 59, who targeted unspecified members of the public — particularly women — at a hypermarket in Guwol-dong, Incheon, on Tuesday was something the suspect "planned from the very start."

Bae said taping blades to both hands before an attack is "almost certainly a first in Korea" and appeared to be modeled on attacks carried out by religious extremists — jihadists — in Western countries, including in Europe.

He analyzed the motive as the suspect seeking "to use mass assault and injury as a means of expressing his delusional desires, and to instill fear in a large number of people."

On reports that A had scattered 44 white envelopes, each containing 50,000 won ($37), at the scene, Bae said the tactic was designed so that "when people follow the envelopes and come closer, he attacks them from behind and in similar ways — it was planned from the start."

Bae also criticized the judicial system's handling of A's prior offenses. A had previously been tried for attempted murder and assault but repeatedly received suspended sentences, and served only four years after attempting to kill his wife. "The judiciary is a mess now, but it was even more of a mess back then," Bae said. "The system repeatedly taught him that violence could be a viable method."

Bae also said A's use of psychiatric medication was itself a calculated tool.

"Habitual violent offenders who target multiple victims like this commonly use psychiatric drugs as a means," Bae said. "A had a medication consultation at a psychiatric clinic right before the attack, then had lunch with his probation officer, and committed the crime an hour later. It was all to set up the claim: 'I committed the crime while on medication.'"

Bae added that A had staged a one-person protest outside a hospital and had a long history of harassing and assaulting people to draw attention to himself. "Probation officers would start trying to placate him — telling him to try taking medication — and he used that as a way to work out how to escape consequences," Bae said. "He was pretending to cooperate, pretending to be well-behaved, and then carried out a mass terror attack."

A is accused of attempting to kill eight people by stabbing them at a large commercial complex in Guwol-dong, Namdong-gu, Incheon — which houses a hypermarket, a movie theater and other businesses — at around 1:40 p.m. Tuesday.

A had taped blades to both hands before entering the building. He took an elevator from the first floor to the second-floor restaurant area, where he began the attack, then moved up to the third floor via escalator, slashing at victims he encountered for the first time.

He attempted to reach the fourth floor, where the movie theater is located, but found the entrance blocked with chairs and returned to the third floor, where a bystander threw a chair at him and subdued him.

A had previously been sentenced to four years in prison for attempting to kill his former wife and was wearing an electronic ankle monitor at the time of the attack.

Last month, A had been booked by police on suspicion of carrying a bladed weapon while staging a one-person protest outside a hospital in Gyeyang-gu, Incheon, over a complaint that treatment for a fungal foot infection had failed to improve his condition.

At the time of the attack, A was also found to be carrying an additional blunt weapon and a bladed weapon, along with a large quantity of medication.

Police have deployed three profilers to investigate the motive and the full circumstances of the attack, and plan to seek a detention warrant for A.