A South Korean man was ordered to pay nearly 12.5m won (£6,800) after his fake online bomb threat triggered a major police response at a Seoul department store.
A Seoul court ruled the man must reimburse the government for the public resources used to respond to the threat, police said on Wednesday.
The total bill came to 12,567,881 won. It included the cost of police personnel, overtime payments, fuel, and meals.
Police said this was the first time a court had awarded full compensation for security costs linked to an online threat.
The man, in his 20s, posted a threat on YouTube in August 2025 claiming he would “blow up Shinsegae Department Store”.
The post prompted police to send 277 personnel to the area around the store. Officers searched the site and increased patrols while investigating the threat.
Police eventually traced the threat to the man and arrested him in Hadong in South Gyeongsang province, about 290km southeast of Seoul. They did not find any explosives with him.
Police then brought a civil claim against the man to recover the costs of the operation. The court ruled in favour of the government and ordered him to pay the full amount.
The ruling comes as South Korean authorities deal with a growing number of online threats that can lead to large police deployments.
Police recorded 177 bomb threats made online across the country in 2025, according to The Korea Herald.
In a similar incident in August 2023, an online post falsely claimed that explosives had been placed at five airports, including in Jeju. Police sent 571 officers to respond.
The person responsible for the fake threat was arrested and sentenced to two and a half years in prison and ordered to pay 29.28m won (£15,900) in a separate civil case. He claimed he had made the post “to see if police could catch me”.
After the latest ruling, police said the financial consequences of making fake threats should fall on those who made them rather than the public.
“Even a single prank threat can require a large-scale police deployment, and that cost is ultimately borne by taxpayers,” they said.
“We will strictly punish those who make public threats and hold them fully accountable for the resulting damage.”
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