A 37-year-old woman has been seized by police accused of stabbing three people with a knife after she was called middle-aged.

The suspect – not named by police in Yongin City, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea – had been using her phone on an underground train, on Friday, 3rd March.

But when passengers asked her to lower her voice using the Korean word ‘ajumma’, she saw red.

‘Ajumma’ is a Korean word that is used when referring to a married or a middle-aged woman and that loosely translates as ‘aunt’ or ‘auntie’, although it does not refer to the traditional family relative. It is now considered mocking locally.

The police said on Saturday, 4th March, that the suspect had been speaking on her phone when one of the two women asked her to lower her voice and called her ‘ajumma’,

The woman pulled out a knife and stabbed two women in their 60s and one man in his 50s, according to local media. The victims were reportedly stabbed in the left thigh, under the right eye, and in the right cheek.

None of the victims have been identified.

One needed surgery for their wounds, but all are expected to make a full recovery, reports local media.

The attacker was detained by fellow passengers until the Seoul Regional Railroad Special Judicial Police Corps arrived on the scene and arrested her.

Investigators have requested that she be charged with “special violence”, a similar charge to aggravated assault.

The suspect could face between one and 10 years in prison if convicted.