Woman gets suspended 2-year jail term for prank calls

A 54-year-old woman received a suspended sentence of two years in jail for making more than 500 prank calls to a police station in Itaewon last year, the Seoul Western District Court said Wednesday.

The suspect, identified by her last name, Son, called the police station 513 times between July and September from a pay phone to level abuse at them, according to the court officials.

The investigators said Son blamed foreigners in Itaewon for her joblessness and called the Itaewon-based station to make complaints.

Son reportedly used pay phones near subway stations to avoid having her calls traced and even pretended to be in emergency situations.

“Son interfered with police officers’ work, making it difficult to receive calls reporting crimes because of her continued prank calls,” the judge said.

“But we (lowered the punishment) after taking into consideration that she acknowledges her crime,” he added.

(monicasuk@heraldcorp.com)