Busan police track vandals after pair graffiti subway cars

Police are tracking down two suspects who fled Korea after allegedly breaking into a train depot in Busan at night and spray-painting a subway train.

Authorities identified two men, an Australian man and a Belgian man, according to the Busan Gangseo Police Station on Sunday, who are suspected of trespassing into the Busan Transportation Corporation's Daejeo train depot in the port city's Gangseo District last Tuesday. The pair later vandalized a subway train with spray paint, similar to incidents back in 2022.

The pair allegedly spray-painted graffiti on the exterior and windows of a Line No. 3 train car, which was parked ahead of service.

Security camera footage shows suspects scaling a 2.4-meter-tall (7-foot, 10-inch tall) fence and entering the depot at around 2:51 a.m. While sections of the fence are topped with barbed wire, the area where the suspects entered was not, authorities said.

At the time of the vandalism, three security guards employed by Busan Metro Operation Service, a subsidiary of the Busan Transportation Corporation, were on duty inside the depot — a restricted facility. They patrol the depot roughly every 40 minutes.

Investigators believe the suspects slipped into the depot during the interval between security patrols. They allegedly spent about 20 minutes defacing the train before fleeing.

The graffiti removal and inspection cost about 3.65 million won ($2,380), the city transportation corporation said.

Police initially had difficulty identifying the suspects.

Even after leaving the depot, they kept their faces hidden with masks and hooded sweatshirts, investigators said, adding that they also changed clothes while fleeing. They also reportedly used cash instead of credit cards when shopping at unattended stores and other businesses, all to avoid leaving a trace.

Authorities later confirmed that the pair departed Korea for Brunei through Incheon International Airport on Wednesday, the day after the incident.

"The suspects appear to have deliberately organized every step of the crime, from the break-in to their escape," a police official said. "Now that we have identified them, we will seek to locate them through an Interpol red notice and begin extradition procedures.”

The Korean police also noted that they are considering placing an immigration alert so authorities will be notified if they re-enter Korea.

"Once they are extradited, we expect to pursue civil claims for damages,” the police said. 

The offense is a type of graffiti vandalism known as "train writing," which became widespread in New York during the 1970s, according to police. In the first half of 2022, a total of 209 train-writing incidents were recorded in the city, according to New York-based media, including The City Reporter. The figure nearly doubled the 107 cases reported in 2019.

Korea experienced a similar wave of incidents in September 2022, when foreign nationals spray-painted eight subway trains across six cities — Busan, Seoul, Incheon, Daegu, Daejeon and Gwangju.

In that case, an American and an Italian suspect left the country after their offenses. The American was extradited to Korea through an Interpol red notice in January 2023. He later received a one-year prison sentence, suspended for two years, from the Incheon District Court.

The Busan Transportation Corporation later recovered 7.6 million won in restoration costs through a civil damages lawsuit against the perpetrator.

"We cannot yet determine whether this incident is connected to the similar case four years ago, whether it was inspired by it or carried out in retaliation," a Busan Transportation Corporation official said. "If the suspects are extradited, we will pursue compensation for damages. We are also reviewing ways to strengthen security at our four train depots, including adding more security staff and lighting."

BY KIM MIN-JU [[email protected]]