2 grenades left unattended for a month after discovery at Seoul school

Two grenades found in the recycling area of a high school in Seoul’s Guro District / Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Fire & Disaster Headquarters

Police and military bomb squads rushed to a middle and high school in Seoul’s Guro District on Aug. 23 after two grenades were found in a recycling area, but it later emerged that the school had discovered them a month earlier and failed to report it.

The grenades were first spotted by a janitor about a month ago inside a sack in the school’s recycling station. The staff member reported the discovery to the administration office, but the school did not notify police.

Believing the items posed no danger, staff placed them inside a discarded rice cooker and left them in the same location.

About a month later, on Aug. 23, a security guard checking whether the rice cooker could still be used opened it and was shocked to find the grenades, immediately calling police.

Though no students were in classrooms that day, officers evacuated teachers and local residents from the building and nearby playground before a military explosive ordnance disposal unit retrieved the devices and secured the site.

A school official said, “Staff assumed they were teaching equipment or replicas, so they did not take immediate action.” The lapse has drawn criticism for leaving explosives unattended in an area frequently accessed by students and staff.

Subsequent investigation revealed the grenades were not replicas but genuine military equipment dating back to the 1950-53 Korean War. Rusted military canteens, mess kits and drill gear were also found in the same sack.

Authorities are conducting further analysis to determine whether the grenades still pose a risk of detonation.

“Even old grenades can carry some probability of explosion, so any suspected ordnance must be reported to the military or police right away,” said Choi Ki-il, a military studies professor at Sangji University.

Police said they are tracking how the grenades and other equipment ended up on school grounds.

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, a sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.