Arsonist gets jail term for fire at birthplace of late President Park

DAEGU -- A man who set a fire at a memorial hall of late President Park Chung-hee, father of South Korea's ousted leader Park Geun-hye, last year was sentenced to four and a half years in prison Tuesday.

The Daegu District Court convicted the 48-year-old, identified only by his last name Baek, of setting the fire with paint thinner at the late Park's birth home in Gumi, some 261 kilometers southeast of Seoul, in December, based on seven jurists' unanimous decision to find him guilty.

The memorial hall for late President Park Chung-hee is destroyed in a fire in his birthplace in Gumi, some 261 kilometers southeast of Seoul. (Yonhap)

During the police investigation, Baek said he was angry that then President Park Geun-hye did not "resign" or "kill herself" following the outbreak of a corruption scandal that eventually removed her from office last month.

The fire was extinguished within 10 minutes, after destroying the memorial hall that displayed portraits of the late president and his wife. No casualties were reported.

Prosecutors originally sought a five-year jail term.

President Park Chung-hee ruled the country for 18 years after seizing power in a military coup in 1961 until he was assassinated in 1979. (Yonhap)