Boy Admits Starting Fire, Police Declare

A fun-seeking boy curious about the flammability of paint thinner started a blaze last month that killed 55 people and injured 79, police said. It was South Korea’s worst fire in a quarter of a century. The 14-year-old allegedly flicked a cigarette lighter close to a karaoke bar floor that had been moistened with paint thinner during renovation. Police earlier had said that the Oct. 30 fire in Inchon started when the same boy inadvertently broke an incandescent light while cleaning, showering sparks onto the paint thinner. But authorities said the boy later admitted that the blaze was the result of a mischievous act by him and a friend of the same age, who died. The fire in the basement karaoke lounge raced upward, trapping more than 120 people, mostly high school students, in a second-floor beer bar.