10-07-2025
Man tries to set Japanese culture center on fire, says angered by Japan's distortions of history
A man in his 60s was arrested for trying to set fire to the Seoul branch of the Japan Foundation on Wednesday, saying he was discontent with the Tokyo government's continued distortions of history.
According to the Yongsan Police Station on Thursday, the suspect entered the Japan Foundation Seoul in Yongsan-gu, Seoul at around 6:50 a.m. and attempted to set the building on fire. He had possessed a lighter and inflammable materials such as paint thinners and candles, but the building's security guards stopped him before he could set the flames.
The Japan Foundation Seoul functions as a library that has materials about culture, arts, society, history, literature, language and other aspects of Japan. It is the local branch of the international organization Japan Foundation, dedicated for cultural exchanges throughouth the world.
Police plan to apply for an arrest warrant Thursday, while further investigating the case.
South Korea has butted heads with Japan on historical viewpoints, particularly concerning issues related to its colonization of the Korean Peninsula and wartime attrocities during the World War II.
Last year, Seoul's Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed "deep regret" over the Tokyo government's approval of textbooks that repeated its claim to the South Korean islets of Dokdo, and watered down the forcible nature of Japan's employment of Korean workers during the World War II.
In depictions of the Japan's wartime sexual slavery of women from Korea, China and the Philippines, the textbook publishers were advised by the Japanese government to use "comfort women" rather than "military comfort women."
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has strongly criticized what he called Japan's distortions of history. In the first summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba last month, however, the two leaders vowed to deepened their relationship without direct mention of the historical disputes.
