Japan protester, 80, sets self on fire

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, yesterday, hospital officials said.

The rally, 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, which freed the Korean Peninsula from Japanese colonial rule.

Kim Sun-min, one of several people who rushed over to put out the flames, said he hadn’t notice the man, identified by police as Choi Yeon-yeol, before he set himself ablaze on a flower bed. Lumps of burned cotton and a small, glass bottle that reeked of gasoline were found at the scene. The rally continued after Choi was hospitalised.