Woman in Her 50s Detained After Wielding Weapon at Sinchon Severance Hospital

Arrest warrant issued over flight risk
Suspect: "Yonsei University turned me into a criminal"

A woman in her 50s who wielded a weapon against a doctor at Sinchon Severance Hospital has been taken into custody.

At 7 p.m. on November 7, Park Seokgeun, a presiding judge at the Seoul Western District Court, held a pre-arrest hearing for the woman, identified only as A, who is accused of attempted murder, and issued a warrant for her arrest, citing concerns that she might flee.

A is accused of wielding a weapon she had with her in an examination room on the fifth floor of Sinchon Severance Hospital at around 4:35 p.m. on November 4, injuring the face and hands of Professor Kang, a psychiatrist.

At the time of the attack, Professor Kang had called a patient other than A into the examination room. A reportedly followed that patient into the room, took out a weapon, and swung it at the professor. Professor Kang suffered a cut about 5 cm long and was taken to the emergency room for treatment. His injuries were confirmed not to be life-threatening.

At around 2:13 p.m. that day, A entered the courthouse to attend the hearing. Asked by reporters about her motive, she shouted, "In 2018, the psychiatry department at Yonsei University wouldn't give me internal medicine treatment and gave me diabetes," and, "Yonsei University turned me into a criminal, ruined my life, destroyed my family, and made me a human guinea pig."

She did not answer when asked whether she felt sorry for the victim.

Seodaemun Police Station initially arrested A on suspicion of causing injury with a dangerous weapon. It later charged her with attempted murder, concluding that she had intended to kill the victim at the time of the attack, based in part on her statement that she had brought a kitchen knife from home in a shopping bag.

A reportedly told police investigators that she had been angry because "I was going to another hospital, but a doctor at Severance Hospital colluded with another hospital and stopped me from going there for treatment."

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