A man in his 50s, who is suspected of assaulting two passengers who demanded to wear a mask on subway line 2 in Seoul, was questioned before his arrest on Friday.
The Seoul Southern District Court conducted a hearing from Park Won-kyu, a senior judge in charge of warrants, from 10:30 a.m. on the same day to review the warrant for a 50-year-old man accused of assault.
The guy who arrived at the court to undergo a warrant review, replied, “I didn’t know I had to wear a mask in the subway.” “I’ve been taking medicine for 24 years,” he said after the screening. He also left the court in a police car, saying, “I’m sorry for the victims.”
A is suspected of assaulting two passengers who asked him to wear a mask on a subway passing near Dangsan Station on Subway Line No. 2 at 7:25 a.m. the previous day.
According to the Yeongdeungpo Police Station in Seoul, the man strangled the two passengers and hit them in the face with the slippers he was wearing. They also threw umbrellas and shouted loudly in the subway. After arresting him on the spot, the police requested an arrest warrant on the night of the 27th of August.
Meanwhile, on the same day, the Seoul Eastern District Court (Senior Judge Lee Keun-soo) also conducted a warrant examination for a man in his 50s who assaulted a driver who asked to wear a mask on the bus. The man is accused of obstructing driving by assaulting the driver’s face who demanded to wear a mask on a bus passing near Jamsil Bridge on the 25th of August. That man even scratched the passenger’s face when he tried to steal the phone of the passenger who wanted to report it to the police.
According to the data from the National Police Agency, 141 cases of friction between May 13 and the 25th of this month, when mandatory public transportation masks were implemented, were received. Among them, 151 people were arrested. By age group, those in their 60s and older accounted for 45 people, followed by those in their 50s (38), those in their 40s (24), those in their 10s and 20s (23), and those in their 30s (19). Among those arrested, 89 percent (135) were male, according to the survey.