6 killed in Seoul arson and stabbing spree

Seoul: A financially strapped South Korean man went on an arson and stabbing rampage in Seoul on Sunday, leaving six people dead and seven others wounded, police said.

The 31-year-old suspect, identified only by his surname, Jeong, first set fire to his room in a low-cost lodging facility in Seoul and then stabbed residents with a "sashimi" knife while fleeing the fire, police said.

Five people were stabbed to death and another died after jumping out of a window to escape the blaze, police said. Seven others were wounded, four seriously, and the death toll could rise, according to police.

The suspect, arrested at the scene, told police he did not want to live because "everybody looks down on me"' Kim Kap-shik, chief detective at Seoul's Gangnam Police Station, told reporters.

Past violence

Such random violence is not common in South Korea, though not unknown.

In 2003, a man with a record of mental illness ignited a carton filled with gasoline on a subway train in the southern city of Daegu. The blaze engulfed the entire train, leaving 198 people dead and 147 injured.