Man kills one, injures others in South Korea 'stabbing rampage'

One person was killed and three more wounded when a man went on a "stabbing rampage" near a subway station in the South Korean capital Seoul, the Yonhap News Agency has reported.

"The man wielded a weapon near Exit 4 of the subway station at 2:07 p.m. (0507 GMT)," Yonhap said on Friday, with the attack "killing one person and wounding three others".

The incident happened near Sillim Subway Station and the weapon-wielding suspect has been arrested, according to the Yonhap News Agency.

Video posted on local television station YTN's YouTube channel showed orange-vested emergency responders running towards the incident carrying stretchers.

Police had cordoned off the area with yellow tape, the footage showed.

"The man shouted he didn't want to live anymore as he was being apprehended by the police," YTN reported.

'Crazy man'

South Korea is typically an extremely safe country, with a murder rate of just 1.3 per 100,000 people in 2021, according to official statistics.

By comparison, America has 7.8 homicide deaths per 100,000 people, according to the country's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The rare incident in Seoul quickly began circulating on Korean-language social media.

"Don't come to Sillim now. There is a crazy man on a stabbing rampage. I called the police after seeing a person injured on the ground," one user with the handle sanong_cos wrote on Twitter.