Four Chinese nationals allegedly carried out a Xi Jinping restaurant vandalism South Korea case in Bundang District in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, then left Korea before police could apprehend them. The restaurant owner reported the break-in at around 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, after damage inside the building was already visible.
Police identified the four suspects by Sunday, but the men had already departed through Incheon International Airport for China. Investigators are now pursuing the case through international judicial cooperation while checking whether the restaurant’s name, which matches Chinese President Xi Jinping, was the target.
Bundang District scene
Bundang Police Station said the four Chinese men entered Korea without visas on two separate occasions, about a month before the attack and again about a week before it. Police also said the suspects took a taxi together to their lodgings in Seoul after the vandalism. The restaurant had operated under the same name for eight years, and the owner plans to change it.
At the site, police found an empty pesticide container and several insecticide containers. Police requested an analysis from the National Forensic Service after suspecting poison could have been sprayed onto food ingredients. That scene detail pushes the case beyond simple property damage and into a separate question about what, if anything, was placed near the restaurant’s food supply.
Xi Jinping name dispute
The restaurant had operated for years without any major problems, yet police say the suspects may have targeted it because its name matches Chinese President Xi Jinping. A local resident said, “There are hardly any Chinese restaurants in the neighborhood, and the place was clean, so I went there two or three times a month even though it was a little pricey.”
The same local resident added, “When the restaurant first opened, people in the neighborhood used to wonder whether it was really okay to use Xi Jinping’s name for a business.” Another local resident said, “The restaurant operated for years without any major problems, so I thought it must have been fine. But when I saw the news, I thought, ‘It finally happened.’”
Incheon International Airport route
Police believe the suspects learned in advance that the restaurant would be closed during the Chuseok holiday and planned the attack accordingly. The owner also told investigators there was “nothing that would have given anyone in China a reason to hold a grudge.”
For customers and the owner, the immediate issue is no longer just the damage in Bundang District in Seongnam. The case now depends on whether Bundang Police Station and the National Forensic Service can establish what was sprayed or handled at the scene, and whether cooperation with China can move the four suspects back into reach of Korean investigators.
