K-Man
Full Member
SEOUL, South Korea - An overnight fire destroyed a 610-year-old landmark that was considered the top national treasure, officials said Monday. Police said the cause of the blaze was unclear but one official said arson was suspected.
The fire broke out Sunday night and burned down the wooden structure at the top of the Namdaemun gate that once formed part of a wall that encircled the capital.
Some 360 firefighters fought to bring the blaze under control, according to Lee Sang-joon, an official with the National Emergency Management Agency. No one was injured, he said.
Lee said that arson was suspected in the blaze. However, Kim Young-soo, the head of a police station in central Seoul handling the case, told a televised news conference said it was too early to make that conclusion.
President-elect Lee Myung-bak visited the scene and deplored the destruction of Namdaemun, the namesake of Seoul's central district and a major tourist attraction.
"People's hearts will ache," he told officials as he received a briefing.
The South Korean government opened the landmark gate, officially named Sungnyemun, to public in 2006 for first time in nearly a century.
The gate had been off-limits to the public since Japanese colonial authorities built an electric tramway nearby in 1907. Japan ruled the Korean Peninsula in 1910-45.
The gate was renovated in the 1960s and again in 2005.
The Cultural Heritage Administration said it would take at least three years to fully restore the gate and it would cost some $21 million.
The fire broke out Sunday night and burned down the wooden structure at the top of the Namdaemun gate that once formed part of a wall that encircled the capital.
Some 360 firefighters fought to bring the blaze under control, according to Lee Sang-joon, an official with the National Emergency Management Agency. No one was injured, he said.
Lee said that arson was suspected in the blaze. However, Kim Young-soo, the head of a police station in central Seoul handling the case, told a televised news conference said it was too early to make that conclusion.
President-elect Lee Myung-bak visited the scene and deplored the destruction of Namdaemun, the namesake of Seoul's central district and a major tourist attraction.
"People's hearts will ache," he told officials as he received a briefing.
The South Korean government opened the landmark gate, officially named Sungnyemun, to public in 2006 for first time in nearly a century.
The gate had been off-limits to the public since Japanese colonial authorities built an electric tramway nearby in 1907. Japan ruled the Korean Peninsula in 1910-45.
The gate was renovated in the 1960s and again in 2005.
The Cultural Heritage Administration said it would take at least three years to fully restore the gate and it would cost some $21 million.
