“Because He Wasn’t Given a Paper Registration Certificate”... Man in His 70s Suspected of Serial Arson in Yeoksam-dong Also Went on a “Gasoline Rampage” Four Years Ago

[Financial News] A man in his 70s who set fire to two patent firm offices in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, leaving 19 people injured, had also gone on a gasoline-fueled rampage for the same reason four years ago and served time in prison, it has emerged.
According to police and fire authorities, Lee, a man in his 70s suspected of arson, set fires to two buildings in Yeoksam-dong in succession, starting at around 11:55 a.m. on the 20th, about seven minutes apart. Both buildings housed patent firms. The fires left five people seriously injured and 14 with minor injuries. Lee fled after the attacks and was arrested near Dongmyo Station on the Seoul subway at around 4:16 p.m. As he was being taken to Suseo Police Station, Lee voiced his anger to reporters asking about his motive, shouting, “The patent law firm committed fraud!”
According to legal sources, Lee’s grudge dates back several years. In 2019, after commissioning a patent application for an “exercise device for improving balance” that he had developed, he asked for a paper registration certificate to be issued. But when the patent firm told him that some countries, including those in Europe, do not issue paper registration certificates as a matter of policy, he considered it fraud and planned the crime.
On December 29, 2022, Lee filled plastic bottles with gasoline he had prepared in advance and went to two patent firms one after the other. He splashed gasoline on employees’ faces and bodies, threatened them as though he would set it alight with a gas lighter, and swung scissors at an employee who was fleeing. In April 2023, Lee was sentenced at trial to two years and six months in prison for charges including special intimidation. The Supreme Court of Korea finalized the sentence, and he served his time.
At the time, the court took into partial consideration in sentencing that Lee had expressed remorse and promised never to visit the victims again. However, investigators found that after his release, Lee returned to the same patent firms he had threatened and ultimately carried out a horrific series of arson attacks. Police said they would thoroughly investigate his motive and whether he had planned the attacks in advance.
[email protected] Park Ji-hyun Reporter