200 Evacuated from Genshin Impact Event Following Bomb Threat

A Genshin Impact event in South Korea had to be evacuated after an anonymous Twitter user posted a picture of a supposed homemade explosive device, implying it had been planted inside Seoul's Olympic Park arena. No one was injured.

Police and firefighters evacuated around 200 people from the Genshin Impact Summer Festival 2023 on 22nd July. The Tweets were recorded on Reddit, and the associated Twitter account has since been suspended.The unhinged poster implied that the device would explode "when the time arrives", encouraging their followers to "look forward to it". The account had made anti-Chinese and anti-communist statements previously, with this being seen as a possible motive for the threats. Genshin Impact is developed by miHoYo, a Chinese company headquartered in Shanghai.

English-language Korean outlet Yonhap News Agency reports that the event was postponed until officials were able to confirm there was no bomb at the site. Police are currently tracking the individual responsible. A woman was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for making a similarly false bomb threat just last month in Cheongju.