A financially strapped South Korean man went on an arson and stabbing rampage in Seoul on Monday, leaving six people dead and seven others wounded, police said. The 31-year-old suspect, identified only by his surname, Jeong, first set fire to his room in a low-cost lodging facility in southern Seoul and then stabbed other residents with a sashimi knife while fleeing the fire, police said. Five people were stabbed to death and another died after jumping out of a window to escape the blaze, police said. Seven others were wounded, including four seriously, and the death toll could rise, according to police. The suspect, arrested at the scene, told police he did not want to live because “everybody looks down on me,” Kim Kap-shik, chief detective at Seoul's Gangnam Police Station, told reporters. Police also seized two more knives and a tear gas gun from Jeong. The suspect used to work part-time at restaurants and other places, but has been out of job since April, police said. Jeong's “livelihood was difficult and (he) has been under considerable financial pressure” and could not pay his rent and mobile phone fees for months, the investigator told reporters. Kim also said Jeong was facing a police investigation for not taking part in annual training for military reservists. Jeong also told police he attempted to commit suicide when he was a middle school student, and had been suffering occasionally from severe headaches.
