3 arrested over S. Korea blasts

SEOUL – South Korean police said Sunday they had arrested three men suspected of making homemade explosives that caused two minor blasts in Seoul last week.

The three men aged from their late 30s to early 50s are suspected of making two time bombs with butane gas canisters and putting them in luggage lockers at Seoul train station and an express terminal in the south of the capital.

No casualties were reported from the blasts that occurred about 30 minutes apart on Thursday, and damage was minor.

“The suspects aren’t telling us about motives yet… the probe is still under way,” a Seoul police officer told AFP, adding police examined footage from surveillance cameras and traced origins of explosive materials left at the scenes.

The rare explosions on Thursday prompted a nationwide search of major public transport hubs involving police commandos and sniffer dogs.

Acts of terrorism are extremely rare in South Korea, although North Korean agents have in the past carried out terror attacks on South Koreans overseas.