Elderly Korean man dies after setting himself alight outside the Japanese Embassy

Elderly Korean man dies after setting himself alight outside the Japanese Embassy in political protest over old colonial rulers

  • The 78-year-old, surname Kim, set himself on fire in the South Korean capital
  • He sat in a burning car outside the embassy on Friday and later died in hospital
  • Kim is understood to have resented the Japanese who ruled over South Korea
  • Family said he was conscripted into forced labour during Japan’s colonial period 

An elderly South Korean died after setting himself alight outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul today in a protest against his old colonial captors.

The 78-year-old, surname Kim, sat in his burning car outside the front of the diplomatic headquarters on Friday, at a time of strained relations between Seoul and Tokyo.

The man died while being treated at a Seoul hospital, police said.

Police said Kim had phoned an acquaintance earlier to say he planned to self-immolate to express his antipathy toward Japan.

Kim’s family told investigators that his father-in-law had been conscripted as a forced labourer when the Korean Peninsula was under Japan’s colonial rule from 1910-45, according to a police statement.

Firefighters at the scene where Kim set a fire inside his vehicle in front of a building housing the Japanese embassy on Friday

A stretcher stands beside the wreckage as firefighters attend the scene in Seoul last night

A stretcher stands beside the wreckage as firefighters attend the scene in Seoul last night

Firefighters of Jongro Fire Station douse the people carrier in water outside the Japanese embassy

Firefighters of Jongro Fire Station douse the people carrier in water outside the Japanese embassy

No suicide note was found. Police earlier said flammable materials were found in the car that Kim borrowed from an acquaintance Thursday.

Police said they’ll analyse possible evidence from Kim’s mobile phone and investigate people concerned to try to determine the exact motive for his action.

The man’s self-immolation comes with relations between Seoul and Tokyo at their worst in decades after Japan recently tightened export controls for some high-tech materials.

If his self-immolation is found to be directly related to the Japanese curbs, it would the first such action in South Korea since anti-Japanese sentiments flared up over the trade restriction.

Some activists and residents in South Korea are staging anti-Japan demonstrations and campaigns to boycott Japanese products, but those have been limited so far.

South Korea and Japan are both key U.S. allies. But they often have been embroiled in disputes stemming from the Japanese colonial occupation. 

South Korean police officers stand guard against possible rallies against Japan in front of a building where the Japanese embassy is located in Seoul, South Korea on Friday

South Korean police officers stand guard against possible rallies against Japan in front of a building where the Japanese embassy is located in Seoul, South Korea on Friday

Fire extinguishers are placed near a building where the Japanese embassy is located in Seoul, South Korea

Fire extinguishers are placed near a building where the Japanese embassy is located in Seoul, South Korea

South Korean police officers patrol against possible rallies against Japan in front of a building where the Japanese embassy is located in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, July 19, 2019

South Korean police officers patrol against possible rallies against Japan in front of a building where the Japanese embassy is located in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, July 19, 2019

South Korean officials say the Japanese trade controls are retaliation for local court rulings ordering Japanese firms to pay compensation to former Korean forced labourers. Japan denies that, saying the controls are required for national security.

South Koreans have been staging largely peaceful anti-Japan rallies near the Japanese Embassy in Seoul for decades. Occasionally, they have turned violent, with demonstrators cutting their own fingers or scuffling with police officers.

In 2017, a South Korean Buddhist monk died after setting himself ablaze to protest a 2015 agreement with Tokyo meant to settle an impasse over the coercion of Korean women into sex slavery for Japanese soldiers before and during World War II.

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