Seoul's Loss

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — An overnight fire destroyed a 610-year-old landmark that was considered the top national treasure, officials said. Police said the cause of the blaze was unclear but one official said arson was suspected.

The fire broke out tonight 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.

The South Korean government opened the landmark gate, officially named Sungnyemun, to the 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.

Here's what's left:


VM: This somewhat blurry picture was taken by me in Seoul in July 2006