Jobseeker turns himself in for malicious online comments

By Jhoo Dong-chan

A man has turned himself in to the police after writing online posts threatening to commit crimes while posing as a deliveryman for a social commerce company.

The man, identified as Cheon, 24, said he did so out of stress from unemployment, according to police, Sunday.

Identifying himself as a “Coupangman,” the nickname for deliverymen of the country’s leading social commerce website Coupang, allegedly he left a number of threats to kill people on a popular ultra-conservative online community “Ilbe” since Oct. 20.

“I have collected mailing addresses of women who live alone. I’ll quit my job and go to their houses at night,” Cheon said in one post.

He also left made other threats such as: “I will kill women who order water through Coupang” and “I will spend tens of millions of won in finding out those who copied and pasted my comments on other websites, and kill them.”

His comments were spread fast through other websites and social network services.

Coupang reported this to the police, asking them to investigate the person as he was defaming the company.

After the police investigation began, Cheon visited Coupang to confess that he was the person and to apologize.

Cheon was neither a Coupangman, nor a serial killer -- he was just a young jobseeker with no previous convictions.

Admitting what he did, Cheon told police that he did so due to stress. A graduate of a two-year college, he said he had difficulty in getting a job.

Police said that he felt jealous of others who brag online after successfully landing jobs. “He said that everyone seemed to be landing a job except him on the Internet, so he became angry and left comments there,” an officer at Gangnam Police Station said.

“Cheon said he did not expect his act out his comments seriously, saying he was terribly sorry,” the officer said.

Police sent the case to the prosecution, requesting Cheon be indicted for business interference and libel.