Man behind nearly 100 fires told investigators he felt excitement when watching flames and had recurring urges to ignite them
Forest authorities work to contain a wildfire in Hamyang, South Gyeongsang Province, in the early hours of Feb. 23. (Yonhap) A man once dubbed the “Bongdaesan Squirrel,” a notorious serial arsonist blamed for a string of wildfires years ago, has been arrested again after allegedly igniting South Korea’s first major wildfire of the year, police said Monday.
The South Gyeongsang Provincial Police Agency said on Monday it had detained a 67-year-old man surnamed Kim on charges of violating the Forest Protection Act for allegedly starting a massive wildfire in Hamyang on Feb. 21.
The fire that broke out at around 9:15 p.m. and was rapidly fanned by winds reaching 20 meters per second, burned over 234 hectares of forest, an area equivalent to 327 soccer fields. Destroying a greenhouse and a farm, the fire pushed more than 80 nearby residents to evacuate as authorities issued a nationwide firefighting mobilization order and the second-highest wildfire emergency alert.
A helicopter works to extinguish a wildfire in Macheon-myeon, Hamyang, South Gyeongsang Province, on Feb. 23, 2026. (Yonhap) Police had been tracking Kim from the early stages of the investigation, noting that he was originally from Hamyang and that several small fires had recently occurred in the area.
Investigators soon linked him to a previous string of arson attacks. Between 1994 and 2011, Kim set 96 fires within a 3-kilometer radius of Bongdaesan in Ulsan, earning him the moniker “Bongdaesan Squirrel” after repeatedly eluding arrest.
Despite a dedicated police task force and then-300 million won ($200,400) bounty, Kim avoided capture for years. When finally arrested in 2011, prosecutors could charge him for only 37 arson cases committed after the statute of limitations had expired for earlier crimes. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and was released in March 2021, returning to Hamyang.
Kim initially denied involvement in the recent wildfire but confessed during police questioning. He is reported to have said that he “felt excitement when seeing fire and experienced impulses to ignite it.”
Police said Kim is also believed to have set three additional fires this year — on Jan. 29 in Namwon, North Jeolla Province, and on Feb. 7 and Feb. 21 in different locations across Hamyang. Authorities are continuing to investigate potential links to other recent fires.
Fire officials had already suspected arson in the Hamyang wildfire after four blazes erupted in the region within a month and the ignition point was roughly 130 meters from the nearest road.
Kim had previously been ordered to pay 4.2 billion won (2.8 million) in damages to the Dong-gu Office of Ulsan for losses caused by his past arson spree.
jychoi@heraldcorp.com