False bomb alarms raise tension

Military officers block off part of the Express Bus Terminal station in southern Seoul, Saturday, after a report of a suspicious unattended suitcase was made. / Yonhap

By Kim Da-ye

Over the past week, two reports of suitcases suspected of containing explosives alarmed the capital. Both carriers turned out to be full of clothes, left behind by mistake.

The incidents, however, revealed a growing fear of terror attacks among Seoul residents.

On Saturday, an employee at the Express Bus Terminal station on Subway Line 3 reported a suspicious suitcase to the police. The bomb disposal squad x-rayed the bag and opened it, only to find clothes and toiletries. It all belonged to a drunk 27-year-old office worker.

The incident came just days after a similar occurrence on March 17 when police received reports of an unattended suitcase on a platform at Gangnam-gu Office Station on the Bundang subway line. Police found what appeared to be a detonator during an x-ray scanning.

Trains on the Bundang Line were suspended for more than an hour, and some 160 police officers, firemen and military officers were dispatched to the scene.

When the police opened the suitcase using a water cannon, they only found old clothes and a metal hanger.

Many Seoulites said they will report suspicious unattended baggage after reading news of terrorist attacks in major global cities and felt Seoul may not be an exception.

Lee, a 32-year-old software engineer living in Seocho-dong, southern Seoul, said that she would report any suspicious objects after the Boston Marathon bombings in April last year. Two pressure cooker bombs left near the finishing line exploded, killing three spectators and injuring 264.

“After this incident, when I see suitcases or plastic bags without their owners, my heart beats rapidly,” she said.

“If one of 100 suspicious objects we reported turns out to be a real explosive, I believe it is very fortunate and worthwhile to have made those reports.”

Some interviewees said they wouldn’t call the police because unattended objects do not bother them. They also find the whole reporting process to be cumbersome.

Park, a 31-year-old office worker living in western Seoul, said that he once reported to the police that a woman had passed out on the street at late night. He had to wait for the police to arrive and exchange a number of phone calls with them.

“If I am certain something is dangerous, I will report it. But I won’t call the police for something I am just suspicious of,” Park said.

Most interviewees regard Seoul as a relatively safe city and see little risk of a large-scale terrorist attack taking place here.

“I don’t think terrorists would come all the way here for major attacks. I guess we will have to be careful only when we host international events including the Pope’s visit,” said Chun, a 31-year-old who works for a financial company and lives in northern Seoul.

However, they expressed much fear about motiveless crimes carried out by local residents.

Yoon, a 31-year-old computer engineer living in Sindorim-dong, western Seoul, said that he feels unsafe on public transportation or in crowded places. “Pickpockets, ‘Don’t-ask-why’ murders and more... As society has become tougher to live in, I see more crazy people,” he said.

Han, a 32-year-old resident of Bundang, Gyeonggi Province, who travelled to southern Seoul for work, shares a similar fear, which has increased since she became pregnant.

“When I walk alone and encounter a crazy-looking man gazing at me, I get so scared that the man might hit me in the stomach and run away. Society has become so frightening to that extent,” she said.