Police say their prime suspect — a 70-year-old man by the name of Chae — has admitted to lighting the fire that destroyed Sungnyemun Gate.
Chae is the same man who attempted to light Changgyeonggung Palace’s Munjeongjeon Hall alight in 2006. For that attempt, he was let go with a suspended sentence.
Chae stated in 2006 that he lit the fire to draw attention to a land compensation dispute involving some property of his. Police believe he lit the Sungnyemun fire for the same reason, and have confiscated a letter of his admitting as much.
Police also confiscated from his home a ladder, bag, pants, gloves and a bottle of paint thinner.
UPDATE: Chae has apologized to the Korean people and his family. Yonhap ran a photo of the guy. Oh, and while some might see a two-year suspended sentence as somewhat light for a guy who tried to light a Joseon-era palace on fire, Chae wasn’t particularly happy with it — he told police that he lit the Sungnyemun fire out of disgruntlement with not only his land issue, but also with the fines he received in the 2006 sentence.
If I were the US ambassador, I’d be offering the Cultural Heritage Agency space in Gitmo for this guy. If anybody needed a waterboarding…
UPDATE 2: Chae admitted that he also considered launching a terrorist attack on a train or some other form of public transportation, but abandoned it out of fear of human casualties. Gee, thanks.
48 Comments
So he destroys his country’s Number 1 treasure as retribution? Simply outrageous.
hey but remember my first initial comment when this broke was called a jackass comment by bumfromkorea
which it turns out i was right (minus the FTA with america slant) now lets just wait to see if he had a history of mental problems diagnosed by koreans finest Police department
they always commit these type of crimes for personal spurns they endured at some previous point in their life mostly dealing with financial burdens
Why not give him another suspended sentence and see what burns next?
What is up with suspended sentences in Korea? They’ll send people to jail for six months for a fake degree and years for smoking the muggles or doing whatever people do with the crank, and yet dudes who try and burn national monuments get “booked without detention” and/or their sentences “suspended”.
I’d really like to know what the courts rationale is for those types of verdicts.
I just can’t understand how people are willing to spend tax dollars to keep someone in jail for drugs, but not someone who tries to destroy something historically priceless.
Nice call, mcnut. I think he took your earlier comment in the wrong way (being overly defensive).
“(minus the FTA with america slant)”
Lol.. precisely why I called your comment jackassy.
http://english.chosun.com/w21d.....20011.html
Here’s some fine Korean journalism, destined for foreign readers, who undoubtedly will guffaw at such a preposterous comparison to 9/11.
I like how the source of the quote in the opening graph isn’t named.
Otherwise , I agree with the idea of shame related to the poor security, or most importantly lack of sprinklers or fire prevention measures.
‘We have to calm down and discuss carefully what to do.”
Yes, that includes measures mentioned on this thread- better judicial punishment of crazed nutters, and in my opinion common sense fire prevention . Have you ever seen sprinklers in any of the hundreds of ancient iconic wooden structures in Korea? Let alone residential and commercial buildings?
It is a crying shame, and no one in their right mind would do something like this, or imagine that a their fellow citizens would want to do something of this nature, hence justifying the lack of security or prevention.Regardless, it’s time for a change of protocol.
it’s just like letting a chaebol owner go with a suspended sentence so he can steal again from his shareholders. what’s the big deal about giving him such a sentence?
“which it turns out i was right (minus the FTA with america slant) now lets just wait to see if he had a history of mental problems diagnosed by koreans finest Police department”
Good call. Usually crimes of violence or destruction are committed by calm and mentally stable people… what is up with Korea where so many of them reportedly are mentally ill or have some anger issue?
Good point Judge Judy. But the difference is the chaebol can manipulate the opinion of the gulible masses (and the judges) by saying their corruption is for the greater good. Mr. Chae on the otherhand cannot convince anybody of his “greater good” theory he is trying to convey, and would do well by not picking up the soap.
His age was probably a factor in the suspended sentence. The judges couldn’t bring themselves to send somebody’s grandfather to prison.
I’d hate to be the judge that let that guy go the first time… oh, wait, it’s Korea. Nevermind.
Yes, I’m sure the judge let him go mostly because of his age.
They just don’t believe that grandad’s are any dnager here!
Also, the authorities have a real habit of just letting nutjobs loose on the streets. It’s like when we had this psycho who would walk around our university all day. Whenever he came across any of the foreign teachers, he would run up to them and make threatening gestures while screaming obscenities in Korean & English. We made many complaints about this guy, but the last straw was when he picked up a large stick and chased after one of the teachers and his wife. The police picked him up, but he was back at the university the next day. We enquired as to why they let him go and they said they couldn’t really do anything about it.
The authorities don’t know how to deal with people with mental instabilities or anger/violence issues. Generally, on the first offense(like this guy’s first attempt to torch a monument), they let them go!
9/11 comparison is bs, unless you’re talking about surrealism like someone here did. It’s more equivalent to something like Lincoln Memorial… but of course, statues can’t catch on fire.
senile old man burns down Yi dynasty city gate in Confucian society.
classico.
he’s pretty mobile at that age.
Nobody answered my Q on how Japan is involved in getting rid of 6/8 gates, nor why East gate is somehow less precious than the South gate.
mcnut was right all along. Arsonists are the same world wide.
2MB will get the heat. Good possibility that this gate stayed intact, if it was never open to the public.
once again, if this was positioned in Japan, although quite impossible, it would have stayed intact. A great portion of Chosun wangjo sil lok was probably preserved because the Japanese stole it, and kept it in Tokyo.
I wonder if there’s any remnant of Goryo’s stuff in Kaesong. Usually after kingdom changes, they burned and demolished these things. Is there a thousand year old gate in Kaesong, formerly of ROK territory?
I hope this is the right guy, not a scapegoat.
I don’t think anyone claims that. There were articles in today’s local papers explaining how the numerical ranking of Korean national treasures does not reference their relative preciousness, but merely the chronology of their designation. I imagine that if Dongdaemun burned down tomorrow, people would be just as upset.
I believe one of the Roberts, on this blog, some time ago explained why there was no significant 북대문. Something to do with Korean superstition, feng shui, or the like. Nothing to do with your favorite bugaboo, “The Jap”.
Now, looking at the confessed arsonist, that kind of individual is the main reason I think the Korean practice of giving automatic respect to the elderly is bunkum.
Some of the articles also explained though that 남대문 was viewed by Korean rulers as especially valuable as it was supposed to be able to protect the royal buildings from fires on 관악산 and other peaks south of Seoul.
“The Korean equivalent of the 9/11 attacks…”
Now that’s a preposterous statement. How could it even compare to the subway fire or the collapse of department store, let alone a terrorist attack that caused the death of thousands?
“I imagine that if Dongdaemun burned down tomorrow, people would be just as upset.”
Question is, how upset are people? Not that much, I would think.
The saddest thing in all of this is how Korean society lets the police and the prosecutor’s office get away without doing their jobs (they do a fine job when the cameras are on them though).
I heard through the rumor ville that someone actually called in that someone was climbing the big door. Police did nothing. Dude was arrested and convicted of arson two years ago, slap on the wrist. My business had a bomb threat a year ago. The police laughed at me on the phone when I reported it. A month later I had to physically remove the guy that did the threat (I knew from the get go it was him–caller ID).
People need to start demanding that when a law is broken it is prosecuted–not prosecuted when the authorities feel like it. Police need to be held accountable for their inaction.
The whole cause and effect concept baffles this entire nation and especially the “police department”.
–end of rant.
I’m going to post on that today, because there seems to be some confusion on that point. The insurance numbers are a better indicator of their “preciousness” of the properties, in which case Bulguksa/Seokgukram tops the list (as far as architecture goes), followed by Suwon Hwaseong. Sungnyemun wasn’t anywhere close to the top.
Uh, I’m not sure if I’d go as far as to say it doesn’t have a “significant” North Gate. It does — Sukjeongmun — but the gate was closed for feng shui reasons. At any rate, it’s located on Mt. Bugaksan, so it wasn’t particularly busy anyway.
“Police need to be held accountable for their inaction.”
You should have threatened to sue.
Just anecdotal, but people I’ve talked to seem quite upset. I don’t blame them at all — it’s a tragic and senseless loss.
Why is that guy allowed to wear a hat and mask? Would it be vulgar to rip those off of him and disallow that kind of cowardice on tv?
Wasn’t the area around the gate put off limits after the 1968 intrusion by NK agents and only recently opened back up to the public after the gate got a facelift?
Yes, it was. But even during the Joseon era, the gate was closed sometime after it was built, although — oddly enough — during period of extreme drought and extreme flooding, they’d open it and close Sungnyemun.
Yes, it was. But even during the Joseon era, the gate was closed sometime after it was built, although — oddly enough — during period of extreme drought and extreme flooding, they’d open it and close Sungnyemun.
For feng shui reasons, if I’m not mistaken.
Isn’t 숙정문 also smaller than 남대문 and 동대문?
abcdefg
He must be allowed to keep his mask and cap on, because otherwise his human right to visit cultural treasures in the future might be infringed upon.
Yep. And what’s more, between 1504 and 1975, it’s didn’t have a wooden superstructure, either. Tis still a 대문, though.
I’ll probably take flak for this, so let me make clear that I am not justifying what he did but rather pointing out that these things happen, and more often than not, they happen for reasons (whether these reasons justify the action or not is entirely beside the point). No matter what authorities do as retribution (Gitmo, waterboarding), they probably don’t care, have accepting the fate as a forgone and thus it will not prevent the next instance from happening.
The guy is probably A) just plain insane or B) acting in an insane manner because he feels a grave injustice has been commited against him through which he has no other recourse but revenge toward the entity that commited said injustice. While you can do nothing to prevent cases of “A” from causing trouble, one can limit “B” by not stealing peoples land and giving them peanuts or other such transgressions as may happen.
i think we have to look at the bright side of the dark side. this is “who moved my cheese” on a grand scale. something burned down, but what resulted is a national wake up call at an important time in Korea’s modern history. I think more good than bad will come of this tragedy. Disaster and destruction are the ingredients of progress.
Good ol’ insanity defense yeh? In that case I blame chewbacca!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=gUP5GzHIojU
Namdaemun (Sungnyemun) also serves as a huge benefactor to workers at the Namdaemun Shijang. I honestly think that during the three or so years during which the reconstruction will take place, work for the Namdaemun Shijang-ers (for lack of a better term) will face a decrease in customers. This is only an opinion/prediction, but I can’t help but think this will happen. I really hope, however, that the reconstruction will do justice to the old Namdaemun.
I wondered how long it would take for this to be turned into grounds for xenophobia. Now the TV news and the portal sites are pouncing on smiling foreigners who are posing for snapshots in front of the site.
#14 bumfromkorea:
…[This incident is] more equivalent to something like Lincoln Memorial… but of course, statues can’t catch on fire.”
No, but this comment of yours reminded me again of the 1972 attack on the Pieta statue displayed in the Vatican — done by a nutcase with a hammer. I had thought of the 72 Pieta statue attack the other night, when first reading here about the burning (given the early mention of the likelihood of arson).
The Vatican Pieta is now displayed behind a bullet proof glass screen. The perpetrator did two years in an Italian mental hospital and was then deported to Australia; nobody at the link below knows what happened to him after that, which raises the possibility that he’s still around somewhere in Asia even today.
You’ve got to have some sort of physical security for high-value targets — at least against likely threats, of which surely mental cases rank at the top of the list. I haven’t been to the Lincoln memorial but I imagine there are at least guards (armed or unarmed?) present during open-to-the-pubic hours, sufficent to at least prevent some loony (or loonies) from marching in with a ladder and hammer and trying to remodel Old Abe.
I had to take a look at the wiki article to remind myself of the time frame for the Pieta attack. (I remembered reading about it in the newspapers at the time; was surprised to see it was that long ago). Here’s the link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piet%C3%A0_(Michelangelo)
And I was amazed to see that there is a Vatican-authorized exact replica (one of three worldwide) in Korea! Specifically, in St John’s Cathedral in Bundang:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.....l%2C_Korea
Perhaps you’ve already seen and photographed it Robert? If not I hope you will be able to do so at some point (don’t know my ROK geography well enough to know offhand how far away that is for you).
I wonder if it is as susceptible to a “hammer attack” as the 72 Vatican Pieta; I commend this potential issue to you O expat residents and lovers of Korea. If it is susceptible, one of you would be doing God’s work if you can at least point out the potential problem to the appropriate authorities (if they choose to dismiss it then I reckon that’s the will of God — or mandate of heaven if you prefer).
@27
If I’m not mistaken, they also used to say that when 숙정문 was open, the girls would get frisky. You can still visit it with special appointment. I think it’s part of the Blue House Tour.
Just for the record: the was a 서대문 as well, hence the name “서대문-구.” It’s official name was “돈의문” and the Japanese destroyed it to build roads. There are also 4 “minor” gates. There was 혜화문, 경의문 and I can’t remember the other two off the top of my head. I believe all four of those are still standing.
Actually, of the four small gates, only three remain, and two of those are recent reconstructions, sadly. The only one that’s original is Changuimun a.k.a. Jahamun.
Apparently there isn’t a “경의문.” I don’t know where that came from. According to Naver, the four “소문” were:
혜화문
광희문
소의문
창의문
Assuming this confession is valid, and I suspect it is, we have a very graphic example of the Korean emotion of han – or the holding on to a sense of injustice that can be all consuming, as clearly may have been in the case of the Namdaemun/Sungneymun arson.
Besides the obvious pathos described below, I may make two observations – one minor and one perhaps a bit more significant.
First, thanks to the fire, the correct name of Sungneymun, rather than simply the colloquial name of Namdaemun, is finally on the tips of tongues of many.
And second, while the grief over the fire is genuine, I think in the long run it will be proven to be overdone given the actual content of what was turned to carbon. The fire, however, did reveal more than a few weaknesses in Korean society. And if only in the form of finger pointing, these issues are being recognized and discussed. I can only hope matters may be progressed on to the next level of creating meaningful, long-term solutions, with a new government coming into power in a few weeks time.
I know I’m often expecting too much from Lee Myung-bak, but I can always hope.
“one can limit “B” by not stealing peoples land and giving them peanuts or other such transgressions as may happen.”
Any evidence to back this up that he was wronged?
Nobody here seems to have remarked on the Korean media’s criticism of the misguided response of fire crews to the fire. The Fire Dept had engines on site hosing down the gate very early on, when only a few whisps of smoke were visible from outside the gate. Yet they refused to enter to extinguish the blaze for fear of damaging the structure. Clearly the Fire Dept hadn’t trained for such an event, and couldn’t figure out how to respond. I think that the Korean educational system’s failure to teach creative thinking skills is partly to blame for this disaster. Anyone using a simple trial and error strategy would have figured out a way to get inside and extinguish the fire during the several hours in which the fire dept ineffectively hosed down the gate’s tile roof.
By the way, Robert, how much of the gate’s wood is from 60s or 2005 restorations? Was there any really old wood in the structure before the fire?
Actually, I was pretty surprised when I first heard of the Namdaemoon fire because I had thought that all the gates were made of prefab concrete, like pieces of Kwanghwamoon, which you can still see over at Kyungbokkung. From a distance Kwangwhamoon really looked like real wood, but on closer inspection, was only brown painted concrete - kind of disappointing. If all of Namdaemoon’s wood was recent, it can be rebuilt and nobody will know the difference.
This suspect reminds me a little of the “poisoned yogurt man.
Regarding the city’s gates, does anyone know which one this is? The photo was taken in 1883-4 by Percival Lowell is labeled as the north gate of Seoul. At a guess I’d imagine it’s Changuimun.
As for the little gates, I had no idea Hyehwamun had been reconstructed…
This would be so much more entertaining if the fire was caused by a couple of Engrish teachers trying to light their farts on fire while high on pot.
“Chae admitted that he also considered launching a terrorist attack on a train or some other form of public transportation, but abandoned it out of fear of human casualties. ”
Terrorist attack!
Bulgasari: See Sperwer’s comment regarding an unknown gate near Sangmyeong University at this link, and my reply here.
I have to say I think the expats are more shocked by this tragedy to Korean history than many of my Korean friends and collogues seem to want to admit to. The only thing that comes to mind to explain this is the fact that so much of this countries antiquity have been destroyed and rebuilt over time. I was saddened by this loss. I guess my Miguk sensibilities are less pragmatic than the power of Han. I hope the gate is rebuilt quickly.
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[...] solution to his land compensation dispute (Namdaemun) Waking up this morning and going to The Marmot’s Hole, it seems as if the police have got their man in the Namdaemun arson case: Police say their prime [...]
[...] Via The Marmot, Chae has apparently admitted to the arson - saying it was motivated by a personal land dispute [...]
[...] Don’t you love Klogic? [...]
[...] Don’t you love Klogic? [...]
[...] Just keep scrolling down after clicking on this link. I guess someone admitted to the inferno. Utterly ridiculous. [...]
[...] KTO page for more information.) And as Robert mentioned on another thread a couple of days ago (here and here), the gate was often closed during the Joseon dynasty, for reasons pertaining to geomantic [...]