Korean Job Discussion Forums

[enchoo]

Have they found the suspects?
What took the fire department so long and why are they so inept?
How can they prevent this in the future?
I am in the states right now but if they can not find the suspects I want to go back to Korea tonight and find the bastards!

[bassexpander]

Why would North Korea do it?

They went the entire war not destroying it because it was considered a national treasure. It is/was their gate, too.

They think it was some arsonist.

[enchoo]

South Korea arrests man in landmark fire
By HYUNG-JIN KIM, Associated Press Writer Mon Feb 11, 3:17 PM ET
SEOUL, South Korea - Police arrested a 70-year-old man suspected of setting a fire that destroyed the country's top cultural treasure, the 610-year-old Namdaemun gate in Seoul, news reports said early Tuesday.

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The man, identified only by his family name Chae, was arrested Monday night on Ganghwa Island, west of Seoul, the Yonhap news agency reported, citing an unnamed police officer. Cable news network YTN carried a similar report.

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.

Hundreds of stunned South Koreans gathered near the charred structure Monday night.

"My heart is burning," Lee Il-soo, a 56-year-old man who runs a small business, said as he fought back tears. He said the fire had destroyed the pride of South Korea.

The two-tiered wooden structure was renovated in the 1960s, when it was declared South Korea's top national treasure. The government built a plaza around the gate, officially known as Sungnyemun, in 2005 and opened it to the public the following year for the first time in nearly a century.

The gate � carrying a plaque reading "The Gate of Exalted Ceremonies" in Chinese characters � had been off-limits to the public since Japanese colonial authorities built an electric tramway nearby in 1907. Japan ruled the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945.

The Cultural Heritage Administration said it would take at least three years to fully restore the gate and it would cost some $21 million. Some 360 firefighters fought to bring the blaze under control, said Lee Sang-joon, an official with the National Emergency Management Agency.

Police said Chae's physical appearance and outfit matched those of a person witnesses said climbed the stairs of the gate shortly before the fire started, Yonhap reported.

Police found a backpack and an aluminum ladder at Chae's house that witnesses claimed the man was carrying at the scene, the news agency said. A bottle of thinner was also found in his house, it said.

Yonhap said the man had been charged in 2006 with allegedly setting fire to the Changgyeong Palace in Seoul, which caused $4,230 in property damage. Yonhap quoted the police officer as saying Chae was only one of several suspects.

An official at a police station handling the case refused to confirm the report.

Lee Keun-bae, an official at the National Emergency Management Agency, said he was aware of Chae's arrest from news reports, but said his office has not been officially notified of the arrest by police.

Authorities have said arson is suspected but that it could also have been an electric leakage.

Firefighters found two disposable lighters at the spot where they believed the fire broke out, Yonhap reported earlier, citing fire official Oh Yong-kyu.

President-elect Lee Myung-bak visited the scene Monday and deplored the destruction of the landmark, the namesake of Seoul's central district.

Kim Ok-ja, a 40-year-old public servant, said she could not sleep Sunday night after hearing of the fire because her heart was broken.

"I came here immediately after finishing work because my heart aches so much," she said after offering a white flower, a traditional symbol of grieving.

[RACETRAITOR]

[itaewonguy]

remember the guy who burned down the suwon fortress.
he was standing there naked with a bottle of soju in hand watching it blaze!
when asked why he did it.. he said the korean goverment had made his life hard so he wanted revenge