[Anchor]

The man in his 70s who set fire to two buildings in the heart of Gangnam, Seoul, yesterday (October 20) has stated his motives for the crime. He claimed he wanted to intimidate a patent corporation that he said deceived him and to let the world know about his grievances. He has largely admitted to the crime. Circumstances pointing to a premeditated crime, such as purchasing accelerants in advance, have also come to light.

For our first report, here is reporter Kim Gyu-ri.

[Reporter]

The hallways of the building are entirely charred black, and parts of the ceiling are torn away.

Inside the office, office supplies including computers are mostly burned and turned black.

This is the interior of the building in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, where a man in his 70s, surnamed A, started a fire around lunchtime yesterday.

Suspect A is accused of setting consecutive fires at two buildings in Yeoksam-dong about 200 meters apart, leaving one person in a state of cardiac arrest and injuring 18 others.

A is known to have largely admitted to the crime during police questioning.

He reportedly stated that he intentionally set the fire to scare the patent corporations that had deceived him and to make the matter known to the world.

[Suspect A (Yesterday Evening): (When did you start preparing for the crime?) About three days ago. (Do you have anything to say to the victims?) Please tell them not to commit fraud anymore.]

Circumstances indicating that A set the fire near the building elevators have been found, and police are investigating the exact cause of the fire based on a joint forensic inspection today.

Having pinpointed the ignition points, police are looking into whether A intentionally started the fire there to block escape routes, as the representative offices of the patent corporations were located in front of those elevators.

Circumstances of a premeditated crime are also emerging.

Police confirmed that A began purchasing plastic containers and other items near his residence in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, starting on October 16, four days before the crime, and bought gasoline from a gas station the day before the crime.

Police plan to apply for an arrest warrant for A on charges of arson resulting in injury to an inhabited building. Based on witness statements that he was looking for a specific employee before setting the fire, police are also considering adding charges of attempted murder targeting a specific individual.

It was confirmed that neither of the two patent corporations affected by the fire had sprinklers.

(Video by: Hangyul, Video Editing: Yoon Tae-ho, Design: SOOIN)