Seoul stabbings: one dead and 12 injured in Seongnam

Four hit by car before suspect stabbed passers-by near the South Korean capital

Police officers cordon off the scene of a stabbing near a subway station in Seongnam, South Korea. AP

A 60-year-old man was killed and 12 others were wounded in a car ramming and stabbing attack near the South Korean capital of Seoul on Thursday, police have said.

Four people were wounded after a suspect drove his car into a pedestrian walkway near a subway station in Seongnam, a satellite city south of Seoul.

Police are treating the incident as a terror attack, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.

A witness who spoke to local media said the suspect carried a knife about 50 to 60cm long.

Thursday's attack took place about 20km from Seoul in an area with many commuters, a large department store and hundreds of shops.

It comes after a recent stabbing attack in central Seoul, where a man was killed and three others wounded in the Sillim neighbourhood, home to South Korea's top Seoul National University.

The suspect was later detained by police.

Another man was arrested for threatening to murder 20 women less than a week later, the JoongAng Daily reported.

Seoul’s cyber police said the suspect called the 112 emergency number on Tuesday morning to turn himself in.

CCTV footage of the attack quickly went viral, and police have apprehended an individual for uploading the footage according to local media reports.