Two men recently released from prison were arrested in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, on the Chuseok holiday after telling police they wanted to go back behind bars. One walked into a restaurant carrying a knife and a hammer and threatened the owner, while the other is accused of breaking into a house where a woman was staying alone.
Yongin Dongbu Police Station said on the 28th that it had detained a man in his 50s, identified as A, on charges of aggravated intimidation with a weapon, and a man in his 30s, identified as B, on charges of trespassing.
Police said A entered a restaurant in Yongin's Giheung district at around 5:04 p.m. on the 25th, the day of the Chuseok holiday, holding a knife in one hand and a hammer in the other, and threatened the owner, a woman in her 40s.
No other customers were in the restaurant at the time, according to police. The owner called the emergency line 112 as soon as she saw A come in with the knife, and officers who responded arrested him at the scene. No one was injured.
A had served a prison term for a separate crime and was within the repeat-offender period following his release, police said. He told investigators that he committed the act because he had nowhere to go after leaving prison and could not find work, and wanted to return to prison, according to police.
Early the same morning, another recently released inmate broke into a home.
B is accused of entering a townhouse in Yongin without permission at around 4:54 a.m. on the 25th. Investigators found that he went inside through an unlocked first-floor veranda door and made his way up to the third floor.
A woman in her 20s was staying in the house alone at the time, while her parents had traveled to their hometown for the holiday. She woke to the sound of someone moving about, and when she came face to face with B, he immediately fled the house, police said. The woman took refuge in the bathroom and called police.
Officers who responded to the call found B wandering about 600 meters from the house and arrested him on the spot.
B had also recently completed a prison sentence for trespassing, according to police. He told investigators that he committed the act while looking for a place to rest because he had nowhere to stay, and that he wanted to go to prison.
Police are investigating the circumstances of both cases.
