Teen Arrested with 20-cm Knife on Gyeongui-Jungang Line Train... Gives "Absurd" Reason When Asked Why

13-year-old boy carrying paring knife on train apprehended
Asked why, he said, "I thought it might puncture my pocket"

Subway file photo. Unrelated to the article.

A teenage boy was caught by police carrying a weapon aboard a Gyeongui-Jungang Line train.

According to Ilsan Dongbu Police Station on Oct. 16, police received a 112 emergency call at around 5:10 p.m. on Oct. 15 reporting that a male student was carrying a weapon aboard a Gyeongui-Jungang Line train near Goksan Station. The caller told police that the student was twirling a paring knife about 20 centimeters long in his hand and exposing it to other passengers.

After receiving the report, police deployed patrol cars to stations where the train was scheduled to stop, apprehended 13-year-old A and asked him to accompany them voluntarily. During questioning, A said, "I bought the paring knife to cut plastic for a club activity, and I was holding it in my hand because I thought it might poke a hole in my pocket if I put it in there." He said he had no intention of threatening other passengers.

After questioning A, police handed him over to his guardian and said they would review whether to formally register him as a suspect on suspicion of possessing a weapon in a public place. The offense was established in April 2025 amid a series of violent crimes with no apparent motive, including knife rampages at Sillim and Seohyeon stations in 2023 and a Japanese sword murder in 2024.

However, some say that establishing a penalty for the offense alone has limitations in preventing crimes before they occur. The detention rate has also remained in the 10% range. According to data provided by the National Police Agency to Rep. Park Joo-min of the Democratic Party of Korea, who serves on the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee, 120 of the 1,164 people apprehended for possessing weapons in public places between April 8, 2025, and Aug. 31, 2026, were detained, accounting for just 10.3% of the total.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.