Crack down on costly emergency hoaxes

Last December, authorities received a report that a homemade explosive device had been planted at Kakao’s headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. About 110 employees were evacuated as police, fire authorities and military personnel conducted a three-hour search of the entire building. No explosives were found. Such false threat reports appear to have crossed a critical threshold, causing harm to citizens and draining public resources.

An analysis by The Dong-A Ilbo’s investigative team of all major civil lawsuits related to public threat cases since 2023 to the present found that at least 2,500 police officers have been mobilized in response to nine false reports. The resulting losses to the police alone were estimated at 240.65 million won. In August 2023, a man in his 30s posted online threats of bomb attacks targeting airports nationwide, including those in Incheon, Gimpo and Jeju. It took 18 days to apprehend him, during which 571 personnel from police special operations units and mobile squads were deployed. Labor and fuel costs reached 32.5 million won. In September 2024, after an online post warned of a stabbing rampage at Yatap Station in Seongnam, 480 officers, including mobile patrol units and cyber investigators, were mobilized over 57 days. The response consumed 55.05 million won in taxpayers’ money. If routine false reports that did not lead to lawsuits are included, the total losses to public authorities would be far greater.

More concerning is the public safety vacuum created when authorities are forced to divert resources to false reports. At the time of the false bomb threat at Kakao headquarters, officers from the Dongpangyo police substation were mobilized for the search. During that period, four additional emergency calls were received, including a traffic accident and a report of an unconscious patient. Officers from nearby substations had to respond instead.

False reports to the 119 emergency system also exceed 700 cases a year, depriving citizens in genuine need of rescue of critical response time. One repeat offender made more than 300 false fire reports in a single year. Although regulations allow fines for false reports, only 22 of the 3,538 false 119 reports filed between 2020 and 2024 resulted in penalties. Many offenders are minors, and officials are said to hesitate to impose strict sanctions for fear of retaliatory civil complaints, leading to lax enforcement.

Police and fire authorities are essential public goods that protect lives and safety in moments of crisis. False reports not only squander substantial resources through unnecessary deployments but also increase fatigue among frontline personnel, weakening their ability to respond to real emergencies. Authorities should consider strengthening penalties for illegal acts that undermine the social safety net and introducing punitive damages to hold offenders fully accountable.