South Korean man injures 14 with car crash, stabbings

A man stabbed nine people at a Seongnam shopping mall on Thursday, minutes after crashing his car into five people on a sidewalk. Police arrested the suspect at the scene, but have not identified him or offered any information about his motive. National Police Agency Commissioner General Yoon Hee Keun described the incident as “virtually an act of terrorism.”

How common are mass stabbings? The attack is South Korea’s second mass stabbing in recent weeks. On July 21, 33-year-old Cho Sun stabbed four people in a Seoul subway station, killing one. Like Japan, South Korea heavily restricts citizen gun ownership. In 2021, a man dressed in a comic book villain costume committed a mass stabbing on a Tokyo subway, injuring 17 people.

Dig deeper: Read Kevin DeYoung’s opinion column on how Christians grapple with tragedy.