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Bomb threat made against nonexistent Gwangju department store

Published: 11 Aug. 2025, 12:46 Updated: 11 Aug. 2025, 20:00

Officials investigate southern Seoul's KSPO Dome after receiving a report of a bomb threat at the venue on Aug. 10. [YONHAP]

Just a day after a bomb threat pushed back a K-pop concert in Seoul on Sunday, police in Gwangju evacuated staff and restricted visitors after receiving a threat targeting a department store in the city on Monday morning.

According to the Dongbu and Seobu police precincts in Gwangju, a 112 emergency call came in at around 9:30 a.m. stating that a bomb had been planted at a Lotte Department Store in Seo District.

There is no Lotte Department Store in Seo District, but police deployed special operations units to both the Lotte Department Store in Dong District and the Shinsegae Department Store in Seo District to search for explosives.

The threat did not specify a detonation time. Police delayed the scheduled 10:30 a.m. opening of the stores and restricted access for employees and visitors.

Monday's news comes amid a series of bomb threats that have been plaguing the country this month.

On Aug. 5, a middle school student who posted an online threat claiming to have planted an explosive at the main branch of Shinsegae Department Store in Seoul and a man who posted a similar message were arrested in Jeju and Hadong County, South Gyeongsang, respectively.

On Sunday, boy band The Boyz pushed back a performance at southern Seoul's KSPO Dome after a bomb threat was posed at the venue for Sunday afternoon. Visitors were temporarily evacuated, but officials found no explosives at the site.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom staff.
BY JEONG JAE-HONG [[email protected]]