Police obtained an arrest warrant Tuesday for a 37-year-old Chinese man suspected of trying last month to set fire to the gate of Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, which is dedicated to Japan's war dead, police sources said.
The suspect was arrested earlier this month by South Korean police for allegedly hurling Molotov cocktails at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul. Tokyo police will consider whether to seek to have the man handed over in accordance with an extradition treaty, the sources said.
The man allegedly poured gasoline on a 13-meter-high gate column and set it alight early on the morning of Dec. 26.
Though quickly put out by security personnel, the fire burned parts of the gate.
A security video showed a man pouring liquid on the gate before setting fire to it.