SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — An 80-year-old South Korean man was unconscious and experiencing breathing difficulties after setting himself on fire during an anti-Japan protest in Seoul today, hospital officials said.
The rally, held in front of the Japanese Embassy and attended by hundreds of people, was staged days before the 70th anniversary of the Allied victory in World War II that freed the Korean Peninsula from Japanese colonial rule.
Kim Sun-min, who was among several people who rushed over to help put out the flames, said he didn’t notice the man, identified by police as Choi Yeon-yeol, before he set himself ablaze on a flower bed near the rally. Lumps of burned cotton and a small glass bottle that reeked of gasoline were found at the scene. The rally continued after Choi was taken to the hospital.
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