Chinese man arrested for throwing firebombs at Japan embassy

"I hated Japan for not expressing regret for its past wrongdoings. This is why I threw firebombs at the Japanese Embassy (in Seoul) on the birthday of my grandmother, who was forced into sex slavery for the Japanese military during World War II."

This is what a Chinese man said Monday after being arrested for throwing firebombs at the Japanese Embassy in anger a day earlier over Japan`s refusal to take responsibility for its sexual enslavement of Asian women in World War II. In an interview with The Dong-A Ilbo, he said, “The firebombs were a birthday present for my grandmother. This is the highlight of my life.”

The man, who was born in Guangzhou, China, said he heard about sexual slavery from his late grandmother just before her death. She was forced to leave her hometown of Daegu, Korea, and sent to China.

The interview was conducted in English at a jail in a police station in central Seoul. “I was shocked at what my grandmother told me and was angry over Japan`s irresponsibility on this matter. I also set fire to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo in December last year after Japan`s lack of sincerity on the comfort women matter at the Korea-Japan summit talks,” he said.

He said his Japanese girlfriend helped him set fire to the shrine on Dec. 26 last year. Meeting her when he went to Japan for volunteer work as a therapist after the Fukushima nuclear meltdown, he helped his girlfriend to cope with depression.

According to police, the suspect bought five liters of gasoline in Fukushima the day before he attacked the shrine and made a preliminary visit to the scene, then threw firebombs past midnight using glass bottles. He searched Wikipedia to learn how to make the firebombs. The man, however, refused to say how his girlfriend helped him. Police said, "We confirmed that a Japanese woman accompanied him, but she departed for Japan on Jan. 1.”

After setting the Yasukuni Shrine on fire, the man fled to Korea and visited his grandmother`s hometown of Daegu, where she was forced to go to China. On Tuesday last week, he also toured a jail in central Seoul where his grandfather allegedly died while carrying out pro-independence activities. "He seems to have had no concrete plans to commit his crime when he arrived Korea, but was determined after he visited the jail,” police said.

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