By Kim Rahn
A man in his 40s was responsible for the two minor explosions using homemade bombs at Seoul Station and Seoul Express Bus Terminal on Thursday in an attempt to recover his stock investment losses, police said Sunday.
The prime suspect of the blasts, surnamed Kim, 43, committed the crime out of expectation that he would be able to recover losses he sustained from investment in stock options by causing social unrest that would bring about stock market crashes, according to police.
Police ruled out the possibility of the explosions having anything to do with terrorism. Kim and two accomplices were arrested on Saturday.
Police are questioning the three suspects who allegedly put and detonated homemade explosives in storage lockers at the station and terminal.
Kim is suspected of having invested in stock options from which he could gain through falls in stock prices on the options expiry date.
“Kim committed the crime in a fit of anger after losing money from stock investments. He anticipated that he might rake in huge gains from stock options investment should the explosions at public facilities make investors jittery about terrorism and result in steep falls in stock prices,” officer Lee Sang-jeong at Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said at a press briefing.
Police apprehended Kim in Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi Province, in Saturday afternoon. Kim said he invested some 300 million won ($276,000) in stocks since last November by borrowing money from acquaintances but lost all and is under pressure to pay his debts.
“Under pressure, Kim told them that he would kill himself or blow up something. He said those he owed said sarcastically that he would neither kill himself nor blew anything up, so he became determined to cause an explosion,” the officer said.
D-Day
Kim borrowed another 50 million won from a friend and invested it in a put option on Wednesday, from which he could gain returns when stock prices fall on the options expiry on Thursday.
“He chose Thursday, the options expiry, as the D-day, expecting the explosions at public facilities, amid fears of terrorist attacks after Osama bin Laden’s death, would pound stock prices,” the officer said.
Kim learned how to make explosives through the Internet. He got one of the accomplices, 36-year-old Lee, to buy him firecrackers, digital timers and batteries, saying he would pay him 100 million won in return.
He made the explosives in a rental car at a Han River park in eastern Seoul at around 4 a.m. on the day of crime. Kim then got another accomplice, 51-year-old Park, to place the explosives in the lockers, saying he would give him 30 million won.
Surveillance camera footage showed Park put the explosives in the locker of the station early in the morning and the bus terminal locker about half an hour later.
“Kim didn’t have professional knowledge of explosives, using firecrackers instead of highly explosive gunpowder. We don’t think it is political or anti-governmental terrorist attack, but just a crime committed by an individual for financial purposes,” the officer said.
He added police are investigating whether Kim really borrowed the money and has stock accounts as he claims. Police plan to seek an arrest warrant for Kim and book Lee and Park without physical detention.
The homemade explosives were detonated at the station at 11:22 a.m. and at the terminal at 11:55, spewing out smoke and setting the lockers on fire. A climbing bag containing a butane gas canister connected to electric wire with a timer was found in each of the lockers.
rahnita@koreatimes.co.kr