Man kills son with homemade gun, hoards bombs

A man in his 60s who murdered his son in Incheon used a homemade firearm crafted from metal piping, authorities said Monday. Police also found 15 improvised time bombs inside his home in northern Seoul, raising concerns about the potential scale of the planned violence.

According to Incheon Yeonsu Police, the suspect, surnamed Cho, used a 40-centimeter steel pipe as the barrel of a single-shot weapon. The improvised gun was loaded with live hunting-grade shotgun shells containing multiple metal pellets. Investigators said three rounds had been fired and 86 were still unused. Eleven additional steel pipes intended for use as gun barrels were found in the vehicle Cho used to flee the scene.

At Cho’s residence in Seoul’s Ssangmun-dong neighborhood, investigators discovered 15 containers filled with gasoline and cotton. The containers were linked by cords designed to ignite simultaneously and were equipped with timers, suggesting they had been set to explode.

This is the most serious homemade gun incident since the 2016 Opaesan Tunnel shooting, in which a police officer was killed by a suspect using a DIY firearm. In 2005, a man was arrested for manufacturing a homemade sniper rifle modeled after a real one, using machinery from the factory he operated.

According to the National Police Agency, four incidents involving homemade firearms were reported between 2020 and 2024. During the same period, 673 individuals were criminally charged through illegal weapons crackdowns, including 218 cases involving banned firearms such as industrial powder-actuated guns. However, no one had previously been caught in possession of a homemade firearm like the one used in the latest case. Police conduct nationwide crackdowns on illegal weapons twice a year.

Under South Korea’s Firearms, Swords and Explosives Safety Control Act, unauthorized manufacturing of firearms or explosives is punishable by three to 15 years in prison or a fine ranging from 50 million to 100 million won. Distributing firearm designs or instructions through digital networks carries penalties of up to three years in prison or a fine of up to 7 million won.

Experts say more proactive efforts are needed to detect individuals who may attempt to build improvised weapons. Lee Woong-hyuk, a professor of criminal justice at Konkuk University, warned that known incidents are likely only a fraction of the actual attempts. “There are probably more cases that go undetected,” he said. “Authorities should develop preventive measures, such as monitoring isolated individuals or those displaying unusual behavior, to address evolving public safety threats."


권구용 기자 9dragon@donga.com