A woman in her 30s was in taken into custody over a knife attack on a man she had met through a dating application, police in South Korea said.
According to the Cheonan Seobuk police station in South Chungcheong province, the suspect was arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault.
The incident, according to investigators, occurred at around 12.40am inside a multiplex-style residential building, The Korea Herald reported. Police said the woman was accused of stabbing the man, who is in his 40s, several times during their first face-to-face meeting after connecting online.
The victim reportedly suffered injuries to his arm and face and was transported to a nearby hospital by emergency responders. His condition is not believed to be life-threatening.
The suspect then fled the scene, police said. They tracked her movements using closed-circuit television footage and apprehended her roughly five hours later at a location in neighbouring Gyeonggi province, police said in a statement.
Investigators are preparing to apply for a formal arrest warrant, local media said.
Police are also continuing to investigate the motive behind the stabbing and the circumstances surrounding the assault.
South Korea reported 1,565 cases of romance scams between January and September last year involving miscreants building fake romantic relationships online to exploit victims. It marked an increase from 1,265 cases during the same period the previous year, according to The Korea Times report in October 2025.
As per the data released by lawmaker Han Byung Do of the Democratic Party of Korea, the total financial losses from these scams reached 100 billion won ($7m), surpassing 2024’s 68 billion won.
Dating apps in South Korea are losing popularity among young adults, particularly those in their 20s and 30s, due to low match quality, fake accounts, and user fatigue, a report in South Korea’s Chosun Biz reported last year.
According to a 2023 report published in the Korea Herald, roughly 80 per cent of dating app users in South Korea were men.
Despite this, according to the local consumer data analysis service Wise App, the women spent more time on the apps, averaging 3 hours 56 minutes per month, compared with 2 hours for men.
According to China’s state-owned Global Times report, Shanghai police busted a dating‑app fraud syndicate last week, arresting 77 suspects and seizing over 10 million yuan ($1.4m). Active since November 2024, the gang reportedly used AI-generated profiles and paid chat systems to scam victims, with single agents earning over 10,000 yuan per month, the outlet said.
