▲ A man in his 70s, surnamed A, who is suspected of setting consecutive fires at two buildings in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on the 20th, is being escorted to the Suseo Police Station in Seoul.
It has been revealed that a man in his 70s, suspected of setting fires at two buildings in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, injuring nearly 20 people, showed an obsession with patent certificates, even hanging one on the wall of his home.
The man in his 70s, A, has a previous record of being arrested in 2022 after visiting two patent law firms in Yeoksam-dong to air grievances regarding patent registration, threatening staff by spraying gasoline.
A patent attorney surnamed B, who works at one of the patent law firms targeted by yesterday's (October 20) fires, stated that A had previously made unreasonable demands.
Attorney B recalled, "He came in four years ago to voice complaints, but it made no sense. I thought we resolved it well by making him understand," adding, "I remember the police telling me at the time, when I went in for questioning as a reference, that A was a patient with persecutory and grandiose delusions."
B added that the police had stated "conversation is impossible" and that "he answers randomly when asked questions."
B also explained that he heard A hung a patent certificate on his wall, and surmised that because he lacked a paper certificate to hang up, it drove him to commit arson out of an obsession with the certificate.
Regarding the target of A's grievances, B explained that they told him he could simply print and use the decision of grant issued in Europe, but A claimed he was defrauded because there was no physical paper certificate.
B revealed that A had registered a design patent in Europe through the patent law firm, but failed to understand the situation where physical paper certificates are not issued for environmental protection reasons.
In fact, after being arrested yesterday and escorted into the Suseo Police Station, A claimed that "the patent law firm committed fraud" and showed reporters a printed piece of paper containing text messages.
The printout contained a text message reading, "We must have sent you this document, so you can regard this as the registration certificate."
Synthesizing Attorney B's explanation, this message is presumed to be what the patent law firm sent to A when he demanded a paper certificate.
B lamented that they could not create something that Europe does not issue, adding that if excessive agency fees had been charged, they could have been refunded, but there was no way out when A demanded a paper certificate that simply did not exist.
A, who is suspected of committing serial arson at two buildings in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, yesterday, was reportedly not someone who typically drew attention or became a frequent topic of conversation among neighbors.
A neighbor said they had lived there for about two years and only saw his face a few times, noting that he never made noise and did not seem particularly strange.
Another resident stated they had lived in the neighborhood for six years and that A had never picked fights with neighbors.
A is suspected of setting consecutive fires at around 11:54 a.m. on the 20th on the 3rd floor of the Sinmyeong Building and at around 12:01 p.m. on the 4th floor of the Hanyang Building, injuring 19 people.
Among them, a patent attorney was found in cardiac arrest and was transferred to a hospital for treatment.
Police plan to apply for an arrest warrant for A today.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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