Self-defense weapon sales on rise since Sindang Station murder – koreatimes

Seen is pepper spray, a popular self-defense weapon available online. Screenshot from the internet

By Lee Hae-rin

The recent killing case at Sindang Station on lines 2 and 6, in which a Seoul Metro employee stalked and stabbed his former female colleague in her 20s to death in the station’s bathroom, has led to an increase in sales of self-defense tools and weapons.

A Gyeonggi Province-based office worker within her early 30s, who wished to be identified only by the girl surname, Kim, said she bought an alarm device and pepper spray for her protection after reading about the subway station murder within the paper last week.

“I thought anyone could fall victim to such an incident anytime, so I decided to carry a weapon for self-protection, ” Kim said. “If such a horrific incident could happen in a busy neighborhood like that, I need to be the one to look after my safety. inch

Another Gyeonggi-based office worker, who also wanted to become identified just by her last name associated with Kwon, told The Korea Times that she has furthermore started carrying pepper aerosol and a portable stun gun on her way to work every morning.

She said the girl hears about crimes plus sexual harassment targeting women in the media every day and said the lady “feels unsafe without a self-defense tool since the Sindang Train station murder event. ”

Kwon added that she reactivated the emergency SOS function on her smartwatch, which automatically enables her in order to call an emergency contact at the press of a button, plus said the girl had also chosen to wear sneakers instead of heeled shoes in case the lady needs to run away from a potential assailant.

Similar concerns of many women here, including Betty and Kwon, who no longer believe they are safe or under any basic protection, have resulted in an increase in the sales of self-defense weaponry and equipment.

Several self-defense tools, including spice up spray, emergency alarms, batons, self-defense knuckles and portable stun guns are available at prices ranging from 7, 000 won ($4. 90) to 30, 000 won online. An official of a website selling self-defense items, that also wished to remain anonymous, told The particular Korea Times that the company has seen sales nearly double because the subway train station murder occurrence.

On the website, many clients left reviews about their purchases, saying that they felt unsafe to walk around the neighborhood at night or even afraid that will someone would follow them into elevators or public toilets and harm all of them.

The official said that the gender ratio of its clients has come close to 50: 50 these days, as many men have chosen to buy self-defense equipment as a gift for their female family members or partner. Many of the reviews by the male customers on the website declared that they had purchased the items for their newly employed daughter or even partner.

The characteristics of plus instructions with regard to using several types of self-defense equipment have spread online as well.

One online user recommended a tactical flashlight as a more effective and safer self-defense tactic, because it could purchase time for a victim to run away, while disorienting the assailant without physically hurting him, as the latter could later lead to the particular assailant filing a complaint.