Police launch probe into bomb threat fax targeting Seoul City Hall

Seoul: Police are looking into a fax threatening to blow up Seoul City Hall and other major institutions, though no signs of explosives have been found so far, officials said Thursday.

The Namdaemun Police Station said it received the report of the fax, which claimed it had installed explosives in major facilities, such as Seoul City Hall, and threatened to bomb the places if money was not sent, Yonhap news agency reported.

The fax, written in mixed English and Japanese, was first reported to the Incheon Metropolitan Police which later requested cooperation from the police in charge of Seoul City Hall at around 11 a.m.

Police searched the site near City Hall for signs of explosives, but found none, officials said.

Police suspect the threat could be from the same person who has consistently sent hoax bomb threats via email and fax since August last year.

In particular, email and fax bomb threats that claimed to be written by a Japanese lawyer named Takahiro Karasawa were sent on multiple occasions last year, targeting the Supreme Court, the prosecution, and Seoul City Hall, among many others.

Karasawa wrote on X at the time that his name was being used without permission, adding some extremists were carrying out the crime, which is often not regulated in Japan.