An arrest warrant hearing opens today at the Ueongju District Court’s Namyangju Branch for a 60-year-old man accused of threatening medical staff with a weapon at a neighborhood clinic in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province, after complaining that his headache had not healed.
The incident unfolded at approximately 11 a.m. on November 5 inside a clinic located in Seorak-myeon, Gapyeong County, according to local police records. The suspect, identified in police files only as A, allegedly shouted profanities and brandished a weapon at a doctor and a nurse following an earlier course of treatment at the facility where he claimed his symptoms had worsened.
Arrest Warrant Proceedings in Namyangju
The Ueongju District Court’s Namyangju Branch scheduled the warrant hearing for 3 p.m. today. Prosecutors and investigators are pursuing charges of special intimidation and special obstruction of official duties against the suspect.
Police investigators stated that the suspect operated a motorcycle to reach the clinic while heavily intoxicated without a valid license. Law enforcement officers who arrived at the scene following a call from clinic personnel reported that the man’s blood alcohol concentration registered at a level sufficient for license revocation. During the apprehension, the suspect hurled a helmet at a patrol car, causing damage, and shouted threats at responding officers.
Medical Association Demands Government Action
In response to the incidents at a university hospital and a regional clinic, the Korean Medical Association issued a formal statement on November 6 condemning the violence.
Kim Taek-woo, president of the Korean Medical Association, argued that if threatening medical staff with weapons over treatment results continues to recur, medical personnel will inevitably be forced to practice medicine amid threats to their lives. He asserted that the resulting suspension and contraction of medical treatment ultimately causes harm extending to other patients.
The association emphasized that while larger hospitals possess security personnel and emergency alarm systems that failed to prevent the earlier attack, smaller neighborhood clinics staffed by limited medical personnel remain significantly more vulnerable. Even hospitals equipped with security personnel and emergency alarms could not prevent rampages with weapons, and neighborhood clinics staffed by only a small medical personnel have no choice but to be even more vulnerable,
the organization noted.
Union Demands Strict Staffing Criteria to Protect Personnel
Health sector labor representatives also issued positions following the episodes. The Korean Health and Medical Workers’ Union released a statement arguing that existing operational models involving constrained staffing levels and hazardous risk exposure fail to safeguard personnel. The union urged authorities to establish strict staffing criteria across job categories and shifts while ensuring that employers treat safety as an essential operational responsibility.
The medical association reiterated that protecting clinical environments is an essential state obligation required to defend citizens’ right to life. Guaranteeing a safe treatment environment is a state duty to protect the right to life of the people, so the government must immediately come up with fundamental countermeasures to protect the medical field,
the association stated.