Police have sought an arrest warrant for a man in his 70s detained on suspicion of setting fire to two buildings in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam District, Seoul, on the 20th of this month.
Seoul Suseo Police Station said on the 21st that it had requested an arrest warrant for the suspect, identified only as A, on charges of arson of an occupied structure resulting in injury. Police had initially planned to apply a charge covering arson of an inhabited structure but changed it after determining the buildings were offices rather than residences.
In questioning the previous day, police obtained a statement that A, just before the attack, encountered an employee at a patent firm's office and asked whether a manager-level employee handling trademark and design work was employed there, naming the person. When the employee replied that they did not know the person but would check, A said it was not necessary and sprayed a flammable liquid at the office entrance. Police also heard from A's landlord that A had said on the day of the attack, while leaving the house, that he would not let the person who defrauded him get away with it, a remark police described as an expression of intent to take revenge. Given indications that the attack was planned against a specific individual, police are reviewing whether to add an attempted murder charge if conclusive evidence is secured.
Further indications of premeditation have emerged. A reportedly told the landlord a month before the attack that he would terminate his housing lease effective the 20th, the day of the attack. Five days before the attack, he visited a mobile carrier's retail outlet to ask how to cancel a phone subscription. On the 16th, he bought two large plastic containers, a lighter and a flammable liquid near his residence in Gangseo District. He purchased gasoline on the 19th, and on the day of the attack he cleared out all his belongings from his home, according to police. Police are investigating whether A deliberately tidied up his affairs to confuse the investigation or in anticipation of fleeing. Police are also examining his movements after the arson, after finding that he ate and drank at a restaurant in Dongdaemun following the attacks.
A is suspected of setting fires in succession on the third floor of Shinmyung Building and the fourth floor of Hanyang Building in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam District, Seoul, on the 20th. Patent firms occupied the floors where both fires started, and A is believed to have carried out the attacks out of a grudge. At Shinmyung Building, a patent firm occupied the third floor, where the fire began. At Hanyang Building, patent firms occupied the third through fifth floors, including the fourth floor where the fire started.
Eleven people were injured at Shinmyung Building and taken to hospitals. Two were seriously hurt and nine suffered minor injuries. One of the seriously injured was transported in cardiac arrest but later regained the ability to breathe unaided. Sixty people in the building evacuated on their own. At Hanyang Building, eight people were injured and taken to hospitals. All were initially assessed as having minor injuries, but the condition of some patients worsened during transport, and they were reclassified as three seriously injured and five with minor injuries.
Seoul Hyehwa Police Station apprehended A near the entrance of Dongmyo Station at about 4:16 p.m. on the 20th and transferred him to Suseo Police Station at about 6:15 p.m. Speaking to reporters outside the police station, he said he had filed a patent in 2000 and that the firm had defrauded him, holding up a sheet of paper containing his claims. Asked when he began preparing the attack, he said it had been about three days.
In police questioning, A claimed that the two patent firms he set fire to had defrauded him, including by issuing a false patent registration certificate. He also said he had wanted to frighten them and bring the matter to public attention.
According to the Korean Intellectual Property Office, A filed for a design right on strength-training equipment on April 17, 2019. It was registered on Aug. 23 that year. The agent at the time was a patent attorney at a patent firm located on the third floor of Shinmyung Building, which was damaged in the fire. A also filed for a design right on exercise equipment on Feb. 12, 2020, and it was registered on Dec. 4. The agent for that design was a patent firm on the fourth floor of Hanyang Building, the other building damaged in the fire. Both designs were also registered in A's name overseas, including in the United States and Brazil.
A had asked a patent firm to register a trademark abroad and was told that only an online certificate would be issued. But because he had no paper certificate, A suspected the patent attorney had stolen his trademark. He reportedly showed an obsession with the documents, including hanging paper certificates in his home. In December 2022, four years ago, A visited the same offices, sprayed gasoline on employees and threatened them with a lighter and scissors, and in April 2023 the Seoul Central District Court sentenced him to two years and six months in prison on a charge of special intimidation. The rights to both designs are in fact held by A. After his release, A filed a criminal complaint against one of the patent firms he set fire to, alleging fraud, but Seoul Gangseo Police Station closed the case without referring it to prosecutors, finding no grounds for the allegations.