An 81-year-old man set himself ablaze on Wednesday at a protest in Seoul that was calling on Japan to apologise to women who were forced into military sex slavery during World War II.
Firefighters at the scene said the man likely doused himself with a flammable liquid before setting himself on fire. People nearby covered him with cloths to put out the flames, before he was sent to hospital.
The weekly protest calls for a formal apology from Japan. Today's protest drew a larger than usual group of 2,000 demonstrators to join three surviving Korean "comfort women", organisers told ChannelNewsAsia.
The 70th anniversary of the end of Japan's wartime occupation of Korea is on Saturday.
In a video interview, 86-year-old former comfort woman Korean Gil Won-Ok said an apology from Japan would allow her to die in peace.