A thief in Korea was arrested after falling for the girl from whom he had stolen a purse.

The 21-year-old university student, surnamed Sohn, had stolen the teenager’s purse, which had been left on a bench in front of a public toilet at the Busan subway station Nampo. 

Sohn had gone through the purse and found 100,000 won ($87) and the identity card of the 16-year-old high school student, whose surname is Kang.

He was smitten by her picture. A quick online search led him to the girl, with whom he happened to have a mutual friend.  Within an hour after committing the theft, Sohn had contacted Kang over social media saying he had found her identity card and wanted to return it.

Sohn had already been identified by the authorities through CCTV footage. When he turned up at their meeting point, he was arrested by the police who had been waiting under cover.

Sohn said to the police, “We have a mutual friend. I just wanted to meet her because she was pretty.”

By Lim Jeong-yeo (kaylalim@heraldcorp.com)