A man in his 70s who injured 26 people by setting fires at two buildings in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, has been handed over to the prosecutors' office.

The Seoul Suseo Police Station announced today (October 29) that it has referred the man in his 70s, identified as A, to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office on charges of arson resulting in injury to an inhabited building and attempted murder.

As he left the Suseo Police Station earlier in the day, A shouted to reporters, "I reported a patent scam to the police, but they didn't investigate. Where else does this happen, what kind of country is this?"

When asked by reporters, "Why did you set the fires?" he replied, "Stop talking about that." When asked, "Aren't you sorry to the victims?" he shouted in English, "Shut up."

Ever since he was arrested and throughout the police interrogation, A has claimed that he was "scammed by a patent corporation."

A is accused of setting fires successively on the third floor of the Shinmyung Building at around 11:55 a.m. on October 20 and on the fourth floor of the Hanyang Building at around 12:00 p.m. on the same day, injuring 26 people.

Among them, one patent attorney was transported to the hospital in cardiac arrest and is currently receiving treatment.


When applying for the arrest warrant, the police initially applied only charges of arson resulting in injury to an inhabited building. However, after securing victim statements that A searched for specific individuals prior to the arson, the police added attempted murder charges upon forwarding the case.

In particular, the police determined that intent to cause the death of unspecified individuals was established, considering that A poured a significant amount of gasoline in front of virtually the only escape routes of the two patent corporations, set fire to them, and fled.

The police checked whether A had any mental illness while deploying profilers to investigate his motives.

The previous day, the police held a disclosure deliberation committee and decided to reveal A's personal information.

The decision was made after determining the severity of the damage, the brutality of the crime methods, and the sufficiency of the evidence.

As A did not express "no objection" in writing to the decision to disclose his identity, his personal information is scheduled to be posted on the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency website for 30 days starting at around 9:00 a.m. on November 3 in accordance with the law.

(Photo: Yonhap News)