The Turning Gate

Namdaemun ashambles

If you’ve been following my previous postings or Korean news media, you already know of Korea’s tragic loss this past weekend when the nation’s National Treasure No. 1, Sungnye Gate – better known as Namdaemun, or the Great South Great – burnt down. My initial disappointment in local media coverage has subsided as more information has come to print since yesterday morning.

The International Herald Tribute has put out two good articles on the incident. The tragedy was initially reported in Fire destroys ancient gate to Seoul, published yesterday, Feb. 11.

Today, the story was updated in Man admits setting fire to treasured S. Korean gate, police say, the police having captured a man admitting to the arson.

Both articles are reproduced below.

Fire destroys ancient gate to Seoul

By Choe Sang-Hun
Published: February 11, 2008

SEOUL: The 600-year-old southern gate to what was once the walled city of Seoul, a landmark that survived foreign invasions and wars to be designated South Korea’s No. 1 national treasure, burned down Monday.

The collapse of Sungnye Gate – better known to Koreans and foreign tourists alike as Namdaemun, or “Great South Gate” – shocked the country. “The Republic of Korea could not even defend its national treasure No. 1!” one front-page newspaper headline lamented, using South Korea’s formal name.

“With this fire, our national pride was burned down as well,” said Lee Kyung Sook, top aide to the president-elect, Lee Myung Bak, who rushed to the scene of the blaze Monday.

Namdaemun, made of wood and stone with a two-tiered, pagoda-shaped tiled roof, was completed in 1398 and served as the main southern entrance to Seoul, which was then a walled city. It was the oldest wooden structure in Seoul, an iconic reminder of old Korea in this fiercely modernized Asian city and a major tourist attraction.

The gate survived many Chinese and Japanese invasions that devastated the city. It was repaired several times, most recently after the Korean War of 1950-53. When the South Korean government catalogued its national treasures in 1962, it gave the gate the No. 1 ranking. Some historians opposed that designation because Japanese invasion forces had passed through it in the late 16th century to destroy Seoul.

The site is now surrounded by a bustling commercial district. The gate had lately been used as shelter by homeless people.

The fire was first reported Sunday evening. By late that night, firefighters believed they had contained it. But the flames reignited after midnight and finally destroyed the structure, despite the efforts of over 360 firefighters.

Kim Young Soo, a district police chief, said investigators were looking into the possibility of arson.

Cheon Ho Seon, spokesman for President Roh Moo Hyun, called the loss “an utterly unfortunate and unspeakably deplorable incident.”

“The gate has been our representative cultural asset that has been with us for 600 years,” Cheon said in a regular news briefing. “All Koreans were shocked and hurt when they saw the gate crumbling in flames.”

The Cultural Heritage Administration said it would spend three years and $21 million to rebuild the structure.

Namdaemun succumbed to the very thing it was designed to fight off, according to Korean legend: fire. Korean kings chose the site in the belief that the gate would the national capital from the fiery spirit of a mountain south of Seoul, historians say.

Man admits setting fire to treasured S. Korean gate, police say

The Associated Press
Published: February 12, 2008

SEOUL, South Korea: A 69-year-old man upset over a land dispute has admitted starting the fire in Seoul that destroyed a 14th-century gate considered one of South Korea’s most treasured landmarks, police said Tuesday.

The suspect in the blaze at Namdaemun gate was arrested late Monday on Ganghwa Island, west of Seoul, and was questioned overnight at police headquarters in the capital. The man, identified only by his family name Chae, spoke briefly with reporters Tuesday while being escorted from police headquarters to the district office handling the case.

“I cannot say enough how sorry I am, to my children and the public,” said the suspect, wearing a white mask and hat in an attempt to hide his identity.

The fire broke out Sunday night and burned down the wooden structure at the top of the Namdaemun gate, which once formed part of a wall that encircled the South Korean capital. The structure collapsed after hundreds of firefighters failed to control the blaze.

Yoo Hong-joon, head of the Cultural Heritage Administration, offered his resignation Tuesday to outgoing President Roh Moo-hyun to take responsibility for the fire, Roh’s office said.

Police said the suspect had cased the crime scene in July and December last year. On Sunday, he poured a bottle of paint thinner on the floor of the wooden structure before setting it on fire with a disposable lighter, district police Chief Kim Young-soo said at a news conference.

Police found a can of paint thinner and leather gloves at the house of Chae’s ex-wife on Ganghwa Island, Kim said.

He said the suspect had complained about a land dispute with a development company, saying that he did not get enough compensation from the developer for about 100 square meters (1,076 square feet) in Gyeonggi province near Seoul.

The suspect had been charged in 2006 with setting fire to Changgyeong Palace in Seoul, which caused 4 million won in damage. For that crime, he received a suspended sentence of 18 months in prison and was fined 13 million won, Kim said.

The suspect “committed the crime after nursing a grudge” over the fine and what he considered insufficient compensation for his land, Kim told reporters.

According to police, the suspect said he picked the 610-year-old landmark because it was easily accessible. He had initially planned to carry out an arson attack on another cultural landmark or the public transportation system, but called off those options because of heavy security and fears of a high death toll, police said.

The landmark was protected only by motion sensors at night, according to the Seoul Central Ward Office, which oversees the gate.

South Korean newspapers blasted the government for poor security and preservation of the cultural site. They also accused firefighters and other officials of inadequate initial responses.

“The burden of guilt weighs heavily on our shoulders as we let one of Korea’s most precious cultural properties turn into a heap of ashes,” read an editorial in the leading Dong-a Ilbo newspaper.

The two-tiered wooden structure had been renovated in the 1960s, when it was declared a top South Korean national treasure. The government built a plaza around the gate — officially known as Sungnyemun, or “The Gate of Exalted Ceremonies” — in 2005 and opened it to the public the following year for the first time in nearly a century.

The Cultural Heritage Administration said it would take at least three years and about 20 billion won (US$21 million; €14.5 million) to fully restore the monument.

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