Chinese man indicted for attacking Japanese embassy in Seoul

SEOUL, Jan. 27 (Yonhap) -- A Chinese man was indicted on Friday in Seoul on charges of attacking the Japanese Embassy in the capital city out of anger he said was triggered by Japan's inaction on its sexual enslavement of Asian women during World War II. Prosecutors said they brought the official charge of attempted arson against the 38-year-old Chinese man surnamed Liu, placing him under physical detention. Liu was first arrested after throwing four hand-made firebombs toward the walls of the embassy in central Seoul in the early morning of Jan. 8, resulting in minor scorching. During previous police interrogations, he expressed deep-rooted hostility toward Japan, fueled by his family's suffering under Japan's colonial rule over South Korea in the early 20th century. His South Korean maternal grandmother is believed to have been forced to serve as one of the so-called "comfort women" for Japan during the war while his great grandfather was tortured to death for his anti-Japan protests. Liu's Chinese father was reportedly killed in the Sino-Japanese War. Before flying to South Korea, the man from Guangzhous also set fire to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, denouncing Japanese Prime Minister Noda Yoshihiko's refusal to take responsibility for the enslavement, issued during a summit with South Korea President Lee Myung-bak in December. Liu was quoted by police as saying that he flew to South Korea instead of his home country out of fear he may be arrested back home. Historians say tens of thousands, and possibly hundreds of thousands, of women from South Korea and other Asian countries were forced to serve as sexual slaves for front-line Japanese soldiers during the war. (END)