Rookie cop goes into burning building to rescue 22 people

A first-year policeman is earning praise here after he went into a burning building to evacuate all 22 residents, Seoul police said Monday.

Oh Hyeon-jun, a 26-year-old patrol officer of the Seoul Gangseo Police Station, was among the team of officers who arrived at the scene of a fire in Gangseo-gu, Seoul on Nov. 7. A fire broke out at a restaurant of the commercial-residential building at around 7:12 a.m., with residents of the building being yet unaware of the situation.

Oh ran up to the residential areas on the third and fourth building, knocking on each door and yelling, "This is real situation," "You don't have time to pack stuff. Just put your clothes on and get out of the building."

He successfully evacuated 22 women who were in the building at the time.

"(After arriving on the scene of the fire) I heard one person say what's going to happen to people inside. I couldn't think about anything else, and I just went in."

He said he was just thankful nobody got hurt, and vowed to do his best to protect the people if similar situations happened in the future.