SEOUL - A FINANCIALLY strapped South Korean man went on an arson and stabbing rampage in Seoul on Monday, leaving six people dead and seven others wounded, police said.

The 31-year-old suspect, identified only by his surname, Jeong, first set fire to his room in a low-cost lodging facility in southern Seoul and then stabbed other residents with a knife while fleeing the fire, police said.

Five people were stabbed to death and another died after jumping out of a window to escape the blaze, police said.

Seven others were wounded, including four seriously, and the death toll could rise, according to police.

The suspect, arrested at the scene, told police he did not want to live because 'everybody looks down on me', Mr Kim Kap Shik, chief detective at Seoul's Gangnam Police Station, told reporters.

Jeong's 'livelihood was difficult and (he) has been under considerable financial pressure', the investigator told reporters.

The suspect has been out of job since April, Yonhap news agency reported. -- AP