A 22-year-old man identified by his surname Kim cut himself and pretended to have been robbed in an attempt to win back his ex-girlfriend, police said. He was arrested for obstruction of official duties on Sunday.

According to Seodaemun police, Kim thought that if he was a victim of crime, his ex-girlfriend would return to him out of pity.

He purposefully visited Seodaemun-gu, the northwestern area of Seoul where his ex-girlfriend lives, and cut himself on the left side of the abdomen. 

He then collapsed at a nearby convenience store and reported to police he had been robbed. The incident occurred around 5:30 a.m. 

Seodaemun police, upon report of a violent crime in the wee hours, deployed 24 patrol cars and 54 policemen to search the area while Kim was transported to Severance Hospital for emergency care.

The police said it did not take long to find holes in Kim’s story.

While Kim gave a fairly thorough description of his fictitious attacker, he failed to explain how his clothes were not ripped in the attack that cut his flesh. Doctors also found marks of hesitation unique to self-inflicted cuts.

Kim confessed after police found his text messages to his ex-girlfriend.

Police stressed, “False reports can interfere with police assistance for where it is necessary, especially at late night and dawn when S.O.S. calls are mostly concentrated.”

By Lim Jeong-yeo (kaylalim@heraldcorp.com)