Arsonist of Korean cultural center in Tokyo could be female

It was speculated that an unidentified runaway arsonist who tried to set the fire at South Korea’s Cultural Center in Tokyo on Wednesday night could be a female, not a male as previously known.

The closed-circuit television on the site showed that the culprit with a face mask and a do rag that is similar with the one usually worn by waitresses in Japanese restaurants approached the outside wall at auxiliary entrance of the center. The culprit then tipped a lighter refill canister to set the fire and immediately ran away.

“Given small physique and the type of steps in security camera footage, the suspect seems to be a female,” said sources from the South Korean government. “Squatting position when the criminal tried to set the fire looks strange as well. It could be a female culprit.”

Japan’s Yotsuya Police Station in charge of the investigation is known to open the possibility that the suspect could be a female arsonist. So far, most of Japanese newspapers have played down the case of arson targeted the center. Given that some have not covered the story or reported it as news brief, they seem to be intended to cancel out the possible adverse effect the arson could produce on Korea-Japan relations.

Some Japanese netizens, however, are trying to shape the general opinion over the unidentified criminal case by saying that this is “the occurrence self-fabricated by Korea.” A netizen with the ID of “sympathized ranking is NG word” wrote that “Korea is working hard but Japan would have been more thorough to burn it all without leaving the faintest trace.” Instigating the arson, another netizen said, “It’s not enough to use a cigarette lighter refill canister. Next time, use bigger one such as gasoline container.” One of the replies read that “it would have been better if the center was a wooden building.”

lovesong@donga.com