Students Steal Flowers from Unmanned Shop, Brazenly Comment "That's Me" ... Guardians Also Dodge Responsibility

Civil Lawsuit to Be Filed Over Students' Lack of Remorse

Two middle school students took flowers worth 300,000 won without permission from an unmanned flower shop in Seo-gu, Daejeon. The incident has sparked controversy after one of the students commented “That’s me” on CCTV footage that the shop owner posted on social media.

Two middle school students stole flowers worth 300,000 won from an unmanned flower shop in Seo-gu, Daejeon, and fled. One of them even commented, “That’s me,” on footage of the theft that the shop owner posted on social media. Screenshot from JTBC’s “Case Leader” program.

On October 23, JTBC’s “Case Chief” reported the story of A, who has run a flower shop in Seo-gu, Daejeon, for 10 years. A had been operating the shop without staff for the past two years. On August 30, after returning from the flower market, A stopped by the shop and discovered that a large number of flowers had disappeared.

After checking the CCTV footage, A found that it showed two students stealing flowers. The students took off their socks and talked in the shop, then took photos of the flowers and put some of the displayed flowers into their bags. One of them even looked directly at the CCTV camera. They also took A’s umbrella, and socks and toys were reportedly left in the shop. Police who responded to the report secured the items left at the scene.

A reported the incident to the police and posted a screenshot from the shop’s CCTV footage on social media. The student in the footage even commented “That’s me” on the post.

Later, the mother of one of the students contacted A and asked for the video to be taken down, saying, “If you tell me where it is, I’ll take my child there myself.” However, a short time later, she changed her account, saying her daughter had left home and had not returned, and that she would come alone. She said her daughter was going through a difficult adolescence and that she would visit to apologize and compensate A for the damage.

But the mother then said it would be difficult to visit because her company would not give her time off, and changed her position again, saying, “I’ve handed my child over. I won’t take responsibility, whether she goes to jail or not.” A said she had not heard from her for more than a month. The mother of the other student also reportedly said she would come, but canceled on the day of the visit.

Angered by the students’ and their guardians’ lack of remorse, A decided to file a civil lawsuit. Police said the two students are under 14 and therefore fall under the category of juveniles exempt from criminal punishment. They plan to refer the students to the juvenile division of the family court along with other cases involving them.

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