A person in their 40s, identified as A, who was arrested and indicted on charges of setting fires in areas near Paldalsan in Suwon, was found to have prepared for the crime by even smashing ladles at a nearby spring to block initial firefighting efforts.
According to News1 on the 16th, CCTV footage secured by prosecutors shows A walking to the spring before the arson and smashing all three water ladles placed there.
Prosecutors confronted A with the footage as evidence, and A eventually admitted part of the charges, saying, "I broke the spring ladles in advance because I thought someone might put out the fire."
On the 12th of last month at about 11:10 a.m., A set fires at seven locations near Paldalsan in Suwon. A was arrested at the scene but denied the crime, saying, "I was just out for a walk."
No casualties occurred due to A's arson, but there was property damage, with about 40 saplings and roughly 560 square meters of forest land burned. Near the arson points were Seonam Gakru, a watch facility of Hwaseong, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and a dolmen cluster from the Bronze Age designated as a Gyeonggi-do monument, but fortunately there was no fire damage.