South Korean man cleaning gravesite suspected of starting wildfires: police

More than a dozen fires have been fanned by high winds and dry conditions, killing 30 people and burning more than 48,000 hectares (118,610 acres) of forest, the worst of its kind recorded in South Korea, according to the interior ministry.

In North Gyeongsang province's Uiseong -- the hardest-hit region with 12,800 hectares of its woodland affected -- a 56-year-old man was suspected of mistakenly starting a fire while tending to his grandparents's gravesites on March 22, an official from the provincial police said.

"We booked him without detention for investigation on Saturday on suspicions of inadvertently starting the wildfires," the official, who declined to be named, told AFP.

Investigators will summon him for questioning once the on-site inspection is complete, which could take more than a month, the official said.

The suspect's daughter reportedly told investigators that her father tried to burn tree branches that were hanging over the graves with a cigarette lighter.

The flames were "carried by the wind and ended up sparking a wildfire," the daughter was quoted as saying to the authorities, Yonhap news agency reported.

The police, who have withheld the identities of both, declined to confirm the account to AFP.

The fires have been fuelled by strong winds and ultra-dry conditions, with the area experiencing below-average rainfall for months, following South Korea's hottest year on record in 2024.

Among the 30 dead is a helicopter pilot, who died when his aircraft crashed in a mountain mountainous area.

The blaze also destroyed several historic sites, including the Gounsa temple complex in Uiseong, which is believed to have been originally built in the 7th century.

The inferno has also laid bare South Korea's demographic crisis and regional disparities, as rural areas are both underpopulated and disproportionately elderly.