It's hard to overstate its effect on the Korean psyche (you can imagine how the U.S. would react if the Statue of Liberty had been destroyed). Though reconstruction efforts can rebuild the gate, it will take about three years and $20 million, and even then I'm sure people won't feel the same way about it.
Here's a picture of how it looked.
It was special in part because it marked the southern limit of the old walled city, though in today's Seoul it was right about in the middle. A traffic circle surrounded it, patrolled by three security guards by day and security cameras at night.
The arsonist, a 69 year-old man surnamed Chae, was angry because he had lost his land an eminent domain case ten years ago and felt the government didn't compensate him well enough. According to his confession to police, and the CCTV cameras, he set up a ladder to the second level, sprayed an area with light fluid, and then threw in a pair of lighters. He left on foot.
Firefighters arrived and tried to put out the blaze, but hesitated out of fear that a full effort would damage the structure. Police are investigating numerous parties for negligence (read: looking for a scapegoat). Chae had set a fire at Changgyeonggung (창경궁) before, and served jail time for that.
This isn't the first time a Korean citizen has set fire to a national monument. In May 2006, a drunk arsonist set fire to a part of Hwaseong (화성, 화성), destroying its western command post. [Source]In my opinion, it's sad, not just because of the destruction, but because in the future there will have to be all kinds of protections built up to protect Korea's national monuments from destruction -- at Korean hands.
No comments:
Post a Comment