Man charged with threatening to shoot Nepali co-workers with homemade gun

(123rf) South Korean police said Thursday they plan to refer a man in his 70s to prosecutors for allegedly threatening two Nepali co-workers with a homemade gun.The suspect is accused of swinging a blunt object at the two victims, one in his 20s and the other in his 40s, and threatening them with the makeshift gun at around 4 p.m. on April 14 at a poultry farm in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. The gun was not loaded at the time.According to Hwaseong Seobu Police Station, the suspect became angry after the victims locked the door of a container warehouse while he was working inside.Police found that the suspect had made two guns, measuring 72 centimeters and 70 centimeters in length, using materials such as steel pipes after watching YouTube videos. One of them, which had been stored in the warehouse, was used in the alleged crime.Although crude in appearance, the weapon reportedly had the basic components of a firearm, including a barrel, chamber, firing pin, trigger and grip.Police initially investigated it as an imitation gun, but requested an examination by the National Forensic Service after determining that it might be capable of firing.The National Forensic Service tested the weapon using 20-gauge shotgun shells and concluded that it was an illegal homemade firearm capable of being fired.The suspect is expected to be referred to the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office without detention on charges of violating the Act on the Safety Management of Guns, Swords, Explosives, Etc. and special assault.Under Korean law, imitation guns are objects that resemble real firearms and may have limited firing capacity but pose very low risk. Possession of such weapons is punishable by up to two years in prison or a fine of up to 5 million won.Homemade firearms, by contrast, refer to illegally produced weapons that can be fired and have lethal capacity. They carry heavier penalties, including up to 10 years in prison or a fine of up to 50 million won ($33,300).Police said the suspect apologized to the victims after the incident and quit his job.