Koreans have been shocked by several senseless attacks that have resulted in one person killed and over 15 wounded. On 21 July, 33 year old Mr. Cho Seon killed one man and injured three others with a knife near a subway station in Seoul. He was arrested and has been charged with murder as well as attempted murder, in what prosecutors have said was a premeditated attack as he wiped his mobile phone and computer before the attack and stole two knives. Cho has been described in psychological analysis as having feelings of despair related to family and economic problems. He is also reportedly a video game addict, and watched a first person shooter game before the attack and his movements have been described as similar to characters in the game.
On 3 August, 22 year old Mr. Choi rammed his car into pedestrians outside a department store in Seongnam and then attacked shoppers with a knife, injuring 14 people with one woman who was run over dying several days later. The next day, a 20-something year old man stabbed his former school teacher multiple times in the Daedeok District of Korea. The police stated that the former student received treatment for schizophrenia and depression until last year and he told the police that he carried out the attack because of negative memories from school. The same day in Seocho District, Korean police arrested a man in his 20s carrying two kitchen knives in the Seoul Express Bus Terminal. Korean police have reportedly identified 42 copycat threats to carry out similar attacks posted on the Internet, including on the Telegram message app.
Acts of extreme and sudden violence are nothing new in Asia or indeed anywhere else in the world but they remain shocking, often because they seem inexplicable. In Asia, the term Amok, or running amok, entered the English language to describe “an episode of sudden mass assault against people or objects usually by a single individual following a period of brooding that has traditionally been regarded as occurring especially in Malaysian culture but is now increasingly viewed as psychopathological behavior occurring worldwide in numerous countries and cultures” (Merriam-Webster, accessed on 11 August). Amok comes from the Malay word mengamok, and was first noted in English by Captain Cook in 1770 when he described individual Malay tribesmen who became violent without apparent reason and indiscriminately killed or injured people or animals until they were forcibly stopped by fellow tribesmen. Malay mythology attributed running amok to “hantu belian”, an evil tiger spirit that enters a person's body and compelled him or her to behave violently.
In South East Asia the term amok is used to report on sudden individual violent outbreaks. In June in Subang Jaya in Malaysia, a restaurant customer “had a meltdown and ran amok” according to the news reports. Amok is not confined to Asians in Asia. In April this year 23 year old Australian Bodhi Mani Risby-Jones was arrested in Bali after emerging from the Moon Beach Resort naked, then chasing and assaulting people in the street. A Bali police superintendent said that “He was enraged. He caused a scene. He hit a security guard and walked out of the resort and ran amok every motorbike rider he encountered.” The Australian was clearly according to locals running amok, and Risby-Jones said of his behaviour “I feel like not myself, like almost possessed. I wasn’t myself. Normally I’m very nice guy.” Perhaps the evil tiger spirit was in Bali? Or perhaps Risby-Jones took something stronger with his beer?
In Mumbai, India, in May this year a 54 year old man stabbed five neighbours with a kitchen knife leading to the death of three of them. The Hindustan Times reported that the man had “run amok” after being incensed with his neighbour for inciting his wife to move away. The culprit was unemployed and lived in a 70 year old community block of flats in Mumbai, which is one of the most densely populated cities in the world.
In Hong Kong there has been public discussion recently regarding the mental health impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on mental health of citizens and whether this can be attributed to several violent acts. In June, an employee at a MacDonalds attacked his manager with a pair of knives. Earlier the same month two women were killed after being stabbed by a man in a shopping mall. And later a 27 year old man was arrested after attacking his former supervisor with a meat cleaver in an underpass to the MTR (local underground railway). Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated cities on earth with living and working conditions that have for m]decades caused mental health issues for large numbers of people. The Food and Health Bureau of the Hong Kong Government reported 2017 that the prevalence of common mental disorders among Chinese adults aged between 16 and 75 was 13.3%, with the most common disorders being anxiety and depressive disorder (6.9%), generalised anxiety disorder (4.2%), depressive episode (2.9%), and other anxiety disorders including panic disorders, all phobias and obsessive compulsive disorder (1.5%). Clearly anxiety in some form affects large numbers of people in the city.
However, Hong Kong is not alone in having a highly stressed population. The New York State Department of Health has reported that every year more than one in five New Yorkers has symptoms of mental disorder. The London city government reported in 2014 that according to a survey in 2007 15.8% of working age adults have a common mental health problem, which equates to over 900,000 people. The levels of mental health problems in people vary in how they are reported and perceived between different cultures, with a more conservative culture in most parts of Asia leading to likely under-reporting. According to the Journal or Urban Design and Mental Health, the World Mental Health Japan survey found the lifetime prevalence of common mental illnesses to be around 1 in 5 people, which is lower than in many Western countries. Given the rates of mental health problems in the most densely populated cities in the world, it is perhaps surprising that more people do not run amok.
Malay tribesmen were not playing first person shooter video games when Captain Cook observed the act of amok in 1770, but mental health has surely been an issue in societies forever although not effectively medically recognised until well into the 20th century. Large cities are stressful places to live and the impact of not only the huge crises of our times (such as the Covid-19 pandemic) take a mental toll, but so also does the news reporting and social media discussion of the issues. It may be also the tiger god still possesses people in the modern age, but perhaps through new channels such as violent video games and toxic social media. Amok is clearly a global issue related to mental health, not an Asian one.