en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woo_Bum-kon_incident
2 corrections found
before a police response.
Police had already been alerted and deployed officers before Woo died, so saying he killed himself "before a police response" is incorrect.
Full reasoning
Contemporary reporting shows there was a police response before Woo's suicide.
- A UPI dispatch published on April 27, 1982 says: "Police by this time were alerted and officers with shoot-to-kill orders were sent to hunt him down" before describing Woo's later grenade suicide.
- A recent Korea JoongAng Daily retrospective likewise states that "Police and the government deployed combat police units but failed to halt him in time" and that the rampage ended only later.
So the problem was not the total absence of any police response; it was that the response was delayed and ineffective.
2 sources
- A policeman who quarreled with his wife ran amok... - UPI Archives
Police by this time were alerted and officers with shoot-to-kill orders were sent to hunt him down ... At 5:35 a.m. today, Woo's killing spree ended.
- Police officer Woo's massacre and a state's long silence (KOR)
Police and the government deployed combat police units but failed to halt him in time, exposing grave failures in command, staffing and response.
At around 3:40 a.m., Woo strapped two grenades to his chest and detonated them
Multiple sources place Woo's final grenade explosion around 5:30–5:35 a.m., not 3:40 a.m.
Full reasoning
The stated time is inconsistent with contemporary and retrospective reporting.
- UPI reported on April 27, 1982 that "At 5:35 a.m. today, Woo's killing spree ended" when he detonated grenades in the house.
- Korea JoongAng Daily's 2026 retrospective also says the massacre "ended only around 5:35 a.m. the next day" when Woo exploded two grenades in a house in Pyeongchon-ri.
Those sources contradict the article's specific claim that the detonation happened at around 3:40 a.m.
2 sources
- A policeman who quarreled with his wife ran amok... - UPI Archives
At 5:35 a.m. today, Woo's killing spree ended. The man with a reputation for violence when he was drunk entered a house and detonated two hand grenades...
- Police officer Woo's massacre and a state's long silence (KOR)
The rampage ended only around 5:35 a.m. the next day. In a house in Pyeongchon-ri, Woo detonated two grenades...