Police have apprehended a teenager they suspect of posting an online threat on Tuesday, claiming to have planted explosives at the Shinsegae Department Store’s headquarters in central Seoul.

The Jeju Seobu Police Station said Wednesday that it is investigating a first-year middle school student on suspicion of public intimidation, an offense under the Criminal Law.
 
The student was apprehended at his home on Jeju Island around 7 p.m. Tuesday, about six hours after the message was posted. 

He is suspected of posting an online message at 12:36 p.m. Tuesday, claiming that explosives were installed at the Shinsegae Department Store near the busy Myeongdong shopping district.

The message warned readers not to go to Shinsegae, saying the poster had planted a device on the first floor of the store that was set to explode at 3 p.m. 

The message prompted the evacuation of some four-thousand department store employees and customers, followed by a 90-minute police search for explosives.