"Colleague Ostracized Me"... 50s Arsonist at Workplace Arrested

A man in his 50s who attempted to kill his colleagues by setting fire to his workplace because they ostracized him has been arrested.

On the 29th, Judge Kim Ji-sook, the warrant officer at the Seoul Southern District Court, conducted a pre-arrest suspect interrogation (warrant hearing) for Lee (57) and issued an arrest warrant, stating there was a risk of flight and evidence destruction.

According to the Yeongdeungpo Police Station in Seoul, Lee is accused of setting fire to a container at the Yeongdeungpo-gu Resource Circulation Center in Yanghwa-dong, Seoul, at around 7:28 p.m. on the 25th (charges of attempted murder and arson of a dwelling).

Lee admitted to the crime upon appearing in the warrant hearing court, saying, "Life was hard, so I tried to die." When asked if his coworkers ostracized him, he replied, "Yes."

Due to the fire set by Lee, Resource Circulation Center employees A (64) and B (59) suffered first- to second-degree burns and were transported to a nearby hospital. The fire partially burned the container floor and was extinguished within 20 minutes.

The police, based on reports that someone poured gasoline and set the fire, considered arson highly likely and identified Lee as a suspect after analyzing nearby closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage.

After the crime, Lee fled to areas including Gwangmyeong City in Gyeonggi Province and Geumcheon-gu in Seoul, but was arrested in front of his home in Singil-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, at 8:10 p.m. on the 27th, two days later.