Seoul woman arrested for making 5,000 prank phone calls

Seoul, Oct 21: A South Korean woman has been arrested in Seoul for making almost 5,000 prank calls in the last four years to emergency services under the influence of alcohol, police reported on Tuesday.

The 43-year-old woman, identified as Song, made a total of 4,654 prank calls and false alarms between January 2010 and July this year, Dobong district police told the Yonhap news agency.

"I made the prank calls when I was drunk," Song confessed after her arrest.

Song made up a number of fictitious situations, such as finding a corpse or planning imminent suicide, provoking the dispatch of security forces on several occasions, said Dobong police.

South Korean law imposes fines of less than 100,000 won ($95) to those who make such calls.

But it also sets stiffer penalties of up to five years in jail or 10 million won ($9,500) for persistent pranksters or those who cause major damage through telephone calls.

IANS