September 10, 2025
SEOUL – A teenage boy was arrested Monday in Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi Province, for allegedly trying to kidnap an elementary school girl — the latest in a string of child abduction attempts that has led to a spike in purchases of self-defense items and safety apps.
According to Gwangmyeong Police Station on Tuesday, the teen is supected of following the girl into an elevator at an apartment building Monday afternoon. Police added that the suspect allegedly tried to drag the girl away after covering her mouth as she stepped out of an elevator. When she screamed and resisted, he fled the scene but was later apprehended through security camera footage.
The case comes just days after three men in their 20s were caught attempting to kidnap elementary school children near an elementary school in Seodaemun-gu, western Seoul, late August.
Parents are growing increasingly anxious, purchasing self-defense items and installing location tracking applications on their children’s phones.
Yang Seung-yun, 38, told The Korea Herald that it acted as “a wake-up call” for her, as the mother of a 9-year-old child.
“I’ve always been uneasy about my daughter walking home by herself after school and after cram school, so I’ve tried to take precautions of my own, such as telling her not to talk to strangers or giving her a phone so she can always reach me or her dad whenever she needs help,” said Yang.
“But the recent incident only made me realize that I need to take extra precautions, as it seemed to me that no one is as interested in my child’s safety as I or my husband are.”
The suspects in the Seodaemun case denied attempted kidnapping, and said their actions were intended as a prank. Police sought detention warrants for two of them, but the Seoul Western District Court rejected them, saying that it was “difficult to recognize the grounds and necessity for detention.”
Online parent forums began to fill with posts criticizing the decision.
“I don’t understand the court’s decision to deny the arrest warrant. I guess the judges don’t have young children of their own,” read one post.
A comment under a local news article on Tuesday’s Gwangmyeong case warned that copycat crimes are emerging because the court’s earlier ruling on the Seodaemun-gu incident “dismissed it as if it were no big deal.”
Yang has bought a safety alarm key ring for her daughter to carry on her backpack. She also said she’s exploring self-defense classes for her child. And she is not alone.
Online retailers report a surge in sales of safety devices for children, including whistles and alarms. Local media say sales of these items have risen roughly 10 percent in recent weeks.
“The world is too dangerous these days, so I bought this (alarm) so I can gift it to my child,” wrote one user as a review for a safety alarm.
Mobile applications that track children’s locations and allow parents to listen in on the kids and their surroundings have also spiked in popularity, while private cram schools offering pickup and drop-off services have also seen a growing number of inquiries from parents.
In response to parents’ growing fear, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced it will carry out a five-week crime prevention initiative covering all 609 elementary schools in the city.
Police will work with district offices and education authorities to carry out a “special safety diagnosis” of school commuting routes, identifying potential risks ranging from kidnapping crimes to hazards caused by traffic issues and natural disasters.
Uniformed officers from local stations and the city’s mobile patrol units will also be stationed along school routes during commuting hours. All child-related reports made to authorities will now be handled as “Code 1” emergencies, the second-highest in priority in the 112-response system, requiring immediate dispatch of safety authorities.
Attempted abduction cases involving children have consistently been on the rise since 2020. According to data from the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, kidnap attempts of children under 13 rose from 113 in 2020 to 204 in 2024.
