gettyimagesbank

A middle school student is being investigated for allgedly stabbing an older woman.

According to police on Wednesday, the woman, who is in her 80s, was attacked by the suspect in the neck from behind "with a sharp object" at around 12:55 p.m. the previous day at an apartment complex in Seoul's Dongdaemun District.

The suspect immediately ran away, only to be apprehended several hours later at his home in the same district.

Her injuries are known to be "not life-threatening." Following the attack, the woman asked a security guard for help and was brought to an emergency room soon afterward.

It is unclear why he attacked her and whether he specifically targeted that victim. Police said he and his legal guardian have been questioned over the case.

Police, however, added that the suspect will not face criminal charges given that he is under 14 years old ― a "criminal minor" immune from punishment for crimes under Korean law.

Amid concerns over an increasing number of felonies committed by minors in recent years, the Ministry of Justice proposed a bill to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility by one year to 13 in December 2022. But the bill has been pending since in the National Assembly, with no signs of progress.

Lowering the legal age was a campaign pledge to reform the country's justice system made by both President Yoon Suk Yeol and Lee Jae-myung, a former presidential candidate of the opposition Democratic Party of Korea.