Man sets self on fire in courtroom after fine

Courtesy of

SEOUL (Reuters) - A South Korean man was in critical condition after setting himself on fire Wednesday in a courtroom where he was sentenced to a $300 fine for disturbing the peace, a court official and an emergency room physician said.

The district court in Uijongbu north of Seoul had just upheld a fine he received in 2004 for causing a disturbance at a mobile phone sales outlet where he was demanding a new phone number.

The man walked out of the courtroom after the sentence, doused himself with heating oil, came back to the courtroom and set himself on fire, the court official said by telephone.

The man suffered third-degree burns all over his body and was being transported to a burn center in Seoul, an emergency room doctor at a Uijongbu hospital that first received him said.

"His life is on the line," the doctor said.

Nobody else in the sparsely attended courtroom was hurt, the court official said.