One person in ‘cardiac arrest’, seven hurt in S. Korea market stabbing

Seoul: A man wearing an electronic ankle monitor was arrested after a stabbing attack at a supermarket in South Korea’s Incheon on Tuesday that left one person in cardiac arrest and seven others wounded, authorities told AFP.

CCTV footage showed the man running through a room with weapons strapped to both hands as he launched the attack, and more than 10 knives were found in his bag, according to South Korea’s Newsis news agency.

The attack ended when the man was apprehended by staff and customers who used trays and chairs to defend themselves, according to witness accounts in Korean media.

“One woman in her twenties is in cardiac arrest, and seven other people have been injured in the incident,” an official at Incheon Fire Department told AFP.

The alleged assailant, in his fifties, had served a four-year prison sentence for attempted murder after repeatedly stabbing his ex-wife in 2015 when she refused to reconcile with him, officials told AFP.

He was then ordered to wear an electronic ankle monitor for 10 years after serving his sentence and was barred from leaving his home between midnight and 6:00am.

The Ministry of Justice apologised for the attack.

“We deeply apologise for causing great concern to the public over today’s knife attack in Incheon involving an individual subject to electronic monitoring,” it said in a statement.

The ministry said it was conducting a “thorough investigation into the circumstances of the incident and the entire electronic monitoring and supervision process”.

According to the ministry, the individual, who was receiving treatment for alcohol addiction and psychological counselling, had recently been booked on suspicion of possessing a weapon.

The suspect met with his addiction counsellor earlier on Tuesday and then had lunch with his probation officer before the attack happened, the justice ministry said.

South Korea is generally considered a safe country, with a homicide rate of 1.3 per 100,000 people in 2021, according to official statistics, well below the global average of about six per 100,000.

However, it has seen a number of stabbing attacks in recent years.

A man stabbed three police officers in May 2025, while three people were stabbed to death at a Seoul pizza restaurant in September that year.