Gangnam arson attack renews alarm over elderly men with grudges

A man in his 70s arrested on suspicion of injuring 19 people in an arson attack cited a personal grudge as his motive, renewing concern over elderly people driven by resentment starting fires.

On Tuesday, two buildings in Seoul’s Gangnam District were set on fire and the suspect was caught fleeing. He mostly acknowledged planning and committing the arson, police said Wednesday. He is believed to have harbored a grievance against patent law firms over their handling of a trademark registration.

When reporters asked about his motive, he shouted that the firms had cheated him. Asked what he would say to the victims, he replied, “Tell them to stop cheating people.”

The suspect had already been detained in 2022 for preparing to commit arson after visiting the same two law firms, dousing employees with gasoline and threatening them with a lighter.

The case is the latest in a pattern of arson attacks by older adults acting on accumulated grudges. One of the most striking was the 2008 arson of Sungnyemun — Korea's National Treasure No. 1, built in 1398 as the main southern gate of Seoul's city wall during the 1392-1910 Joseon Dynasty.

Chae Jong-gi, then in his 70s, set fire to the gate over discontent with land compensation and a ruling in an earlier arson case. In the 1990s, his land in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, was included in a planned road for a new apartment complex, leaving him upset over compensation he thought was too low.

Chae first sought to publicize his grievance by setting fire to Changgyeong Palace in 2006. He received a suspended sentence but set Sungnyemun ablaze even before the suspension period ended. Despite firefighters’ overnight efforts, about 90 percent of the gate’s second floor was damaged. The gate's restoration was completed in 2013 and Chae was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Earlier in 2003, Kim Dae-han, then 56, set fire to a subway train in southeastern city of Daegu and killed 192 people after despairing over declining health from stroke aftereffects and thinking he could not die alone.

In 2025, Won, in his 60s, set fire to a moving Seoul Metro Line 5 train. Upset over an unfavorable divorce ruling, he sought to end his life and chose a subway train as the setting, expecting the attack to draw public attention. An appeals court sentenced him in January to 12 years in prison for attempting to kill 160 passengers.

Pattern in profiles

The numbers reveal a clear demographic pattern. Men accounted for 82.3 percent of offenders in 1,011 arson cases in 2024, according to the Prosecution Service. Among male offenders, those aged 51 to 60 made up the largest share at 26.3 percent, followed by those 61 and older at 24.5 percent.

Experts say loneliness and built-up frustration can push older people toward arson.

Lim Myung-ho, a professor of psychology at Dankook University, said arson by older adults is highly symbolic in psychological terms.

“Social isolation and loneliness are arguably the biggest problems for older people. Especially when they feel lonely, setting a fire is the fastest and simplest way to draw attention from many people,” Lim said, adding that starting fires has long been a psychological act that draws people together.

Lim also said such crimes should be addressed more seriously through measures such as probation or preventive treatment, citing the prior arson-related record of the suspect in Tuesday’s attack.

Kim Dae-keun, a research fellow at the Korean Institute of Criminology and Justice, said arsonists are often timid, while those with outgoing or aggressive tendencies usually move on to more serious violent crimes.

“Many older people are socially suppressed, with many grievances but few ways to release them, often leading them to simply commit arson. In prisons, for example, elderly inmates are more sensitive to humiliation and harbor more anger,” Kim explained.