Survivors Unanimously Say "He Tried to Kill Us"… Yeoksam Arsonist Arrested

[Anchor]

A man in his 70s who set fire to two buildings in Gangnam, Seoul, injuring 19 people, has been arrested. While he repeatedly claimed that he only wanted to alert the world and scare people, the victims unanimously stated that the man set fire to the entrance with the intent to kill.

Reporter Im Jihyeon has more.

[Reporter]

A man wearing a hat and mask, with his hands bound, leaves the police station.

He is the man in his 70s, identified as Mr. A, who sequentially set fires at two buildings in Yeoksam-dong, Seoul, being transported to court for his pre-trial detention hearing.

[Mr. A : (Did you have the intent to kill?) I didn't mean to kill, I just meant to scare them. It's right here. The fraud going on. I wanted to let the world know….]

Mr. A, in his 70s, who reportedly refused to testify and exercised his right to remain silent during his second police interrogation yesterday (October 21), stood in front of reporters and reiterated his previous claim that two patent law firms had defrauded him.

Mr. A had previously been punished in 2022 for visiting the same two patent law firms, splashing gasoline, and pretending to light a lighter. Returning four years later, Mr. A did not stop at just pretending this time.

According to testimonies from survivors obtained by SBS, Mr. A asked for General Manager B of the patent law firm, told an employee who was guiding him to "go inside the office," poured flammable material in front of the entrance—which was about 1 square meter in size—and set it on fire.

One survivor stated, "There was a garden-style terrace outside the floor where the fire broke out, so we were able to break the glass and escape," adding, "He set fire to the only exit, trying to kill us."

After securing custody of Mr. A, the police plan to review applying charges of attempted murder through additional investigations.

It was revealed that Mr. A, who was released from prison in June of last year, was also outside the police surveillance net.

When a person serves a prison sentence for murder, arson, etc., information is collected for two years after release, but because he was punished for special intimidation, he had slipped out of the police surveillance net.

The court issued an arrest warrant for Mr. A, citing concerns over flight.

(Reported by Yang Hyun-chul and Kim Han-gyeol | Video edited by Yoon Tae-ho | Design by Kim Han-gil, Han Heung-soo, and Byun Da-young)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.