Man gets one-year term for fake threat to blow up Incheon airport

 A local court sentenced a 35-year-old South Korean man to a year in prison on charges of placing a fake explosive with a warning written in Arabic at the country's main airport, court records showed Tuesday.

The appeals department at the Incheon District Court found the man, whose identity was withheld, guilty of disrupting normal operations at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul in late January. 

The fake explosive was later found to have been made with two butane canisters taped to a water bottle.

At the first trial, the suspect was sentenced to eight months in prison.

The appeal's department, however, dismissed the suspect's claim that he was mentally incompetent when he committed the crime and ruled in favor of the prosecution which said the original ruling was too light.

The court said due to his criminal act, one of the airport's arrivals halls was cordoned off for two hours, leading to a delay in arrivals and handling of some 3,000 passengers from 17 planes that had to be diverted elsewhere.

The suspect was arrested five days after the incident took place. The man said he harbored discontent towards the society as he had not been employed for a long time. (Yonhap)