A man in his 70s accused of setting fire to two office buildings in Seoul's Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam District, injuring 19 people, has been placed under arrest.
Judge Boo Dong-sik of the Seoul Central District Court, who handles arrest warrants, issued a warrant on the 22nd for the man, identified only as A, on charges including arson of an occupied building causing injury, citing a risk of flight.
A is accused of setting fires at the Hanyang Building and the Shinmyung Building in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam District, Seoul, at about 11:51 a.m. and 12:01 p.m. on the 20th. Both buildings housed a patent law firm. Five people were seriously injured and 14 suffered minor injuries, for a total of 19.
Arriving at the court for questioning ahead of the warrant decision, A was asked whether he had intended to kill the patent attorney handling his case. "I wasn't trying to kill anyone, I was trying to scare them," he said. Asked again whether he had meant to kill, he said: "Kill who? I was trying to scare them." He added: "There's fraud going on. I wanted to let the world know. This country is protecting fraudsters."
Asked why he had set the fire in front of an elevator if his aim was only to frighten people, A repeated claims that he had been defrauded with forged documents, referring to patents in Britain, Europe and Russia. A has long claimed that he was defrauded by the patent law firm after failing to receive a physical paper certificate during the patent registration process.
Police have found indications that A was searching for a specific person when he committed the acts, and are reviewing whether to add a charge of attempted murder.