A man in his 70s was detained this month after setting fire to two buildings in Seoul's Gangnam district, highlighting a rising share of older people among arson suspects even as overall arson cases decline.
The number of arson suspects aged 61 and over rose to 244 last year from 207 in 2023, according to police data obtained by Rep. Seo Myung-ok of the People Power Party, a member of the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee. The data was released on the 25th. Over the same period, total arson cases fell to 927 from 1,203, and the number of people arrested dropped to 898 from 1,094. Older suspects increased even as overall arson declined.
Several recent high-profile arson cases involved older suspects. The man in his 70s who set fire to two buildings in Yeoksam-dong on the 20th told police he acted because patent law firms had defrauded him. A man who set fire to a security office in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang Province, in July, killing five people, was also in his 70s. In May last year, a man in his 60s angered by losing a divorce case set fire to a train on Seoul Subway Line 5.
Middle-aged people accounted for 47.14% of arson offenders over the five years through 2024, according to crime analysis data from the Supreme Prosecutors' Office. Including those aged 60 and over, the figure reached 63.38%. That means more than six in 10 arson offenders were middle-aged or older.
Carelessness or negligence was the most common motive at 16.2%, followed by anger stemming from interpersonal conflict at 15.9%. Both outweighed venting frustration on third parties, at 4.9%, and hostility toward society, at 1.9%. Offenders classified as mentally ill made up 7.6%.
Experts say social isolation and emotional alienation among older adults can become risk factors for violent crime. Kwak Dae-kyung, a professor of police administration at Dongguk University, wrote in a paper that crime is rising among people aged 60 and over, who experience physical aging, emotional alienation and a decline in social activity.