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Three killed in stabbing incident over alleged payment dispute at pizza shop in Seoul

Published: 03 Sep. 2025, 15:15 Updated: 03 Sep. 2025, 17:33

Scene of the stabbing in Jowon-dong, Gwanak District, southern Seoul on Sept. 3 [KIM CHANG-YONG]

A total of three people were killed and another seriously injured in a stabbing at a pizza shop in southern Seoul on Wednesday morning, in a spat seemingly related to payment issues between a shop owner and interior contractors for another shop.

A report was filed at 10:57 a.m. from a pizza shop in Jowon-dong, Gwanak District, saying, “I’ve been stabbed. Please save me,” according to the Gwanak Police Precinct and Gwanak District Office,

Three people at the scene were pronounced dead and one person was taken to the hospital in critical condition. The suspect, identified as the owner of the pizza shop, allegedly stabbed the victims and then harmed himself.

Police believe the three deceased victims — two men and one woman — were interior contractors.

“It appears to be a business-related conflict,” a police official said.

“I heard the coffee shop next door was undergoing interior construction," said a man in his 60s who runs a nearby store. "I saw people who looked like they were there for the renovation walk into the pizza shop this morning.”

"The pizza shop wasn't undergoing any interior work or remodeling," said the owner of a restaurant across the street. “It was the coffee shop next door that had been vacant for a long time and began demolition about a month ago.”

Gwanak District Office clarified to the press that while the legal address of the site is Sillim-dong, it falls under the administrative jurisdiction of Jowon-dong. Sillim-dong encompasses 11 administrative neighborhoods, including Jowon-dong.

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 LEE YOUNG-KEUN, IM SOUNG-BIN, KIM CHANG-YONG [[email protected]]