Home > National > Social Affairs

Bomb threat against multiple Shinsegae locations prompts police, fire department response

Published: 02 Sep. 2025, 20:09

Police officials search for explosives following a bomb threat made against a department store in Gwangju on Aug. 11. [YONHAP]

A bomb threat targeting multiple Shinsegae retail locations triggered police and fire department responses in Seoul on Tuesday. Searches took place nationwide, but no explosives were found.

According to police, an employee reported a threatening comment posted at around 3:20 p.m. on Shinsegae Duty Free’s Instagram account that read, “I will bomb Shinsegae Duty Free.” Authorities were dispatched to the flagship store in Jung District, central Seoul, and conducted a search but found no explosives.

The fire department deployed 42 personnel and nine vehicles to assist in the operation, which continued until 6 p.m. No suspicious items were discovered.

Shortly after, a similar comment — written by the same account — appeared on the Instagram page of Shinsegae Department Store’s Times Square location in Yeongdeungpo District, western Seoul. Police received the second report at 3:55 p.m. and searched the site but again found nothing unusual.

Police later confirmed that threatening comments from the same Instagram account had been posted on the official pages of five other Shinsegae locations nationwide, including branches in Centum City (Busan), Daejeon and Masan. South Gyeongsang.

A similar incident occurred on Aug. 5, when an online post claimed explosives had been planted at Shinsegae’s main department store in Jung District. More than 4,000 people, including shoppers and staff, were evacuated. No explosives were found at that time either. Police have since booked a teenage male suspect on charges of making terror threats.

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.
BY HAN YOUNG-HYE [[email protected]]