One horrifying thing we discovered upon getting on the plane and receiving a Korean newspaper was that some idiot arsonist had destroyed Korea's No. 1 national treasure, the Namdaemun Gate.

They caught the guy very quickly and the sheer pointlessness of the arson is really sad.

I happened across Namdaemun Gate on my first day riding my bike across Seoul back in August and it was so beautiful and distinctive that it was one of the things that made me think something un-profound but hearyfelt like "wow, I really am in Korea."

The huge public outcry about its destruction is quite amazing.

The Washington Post ran a story about it as well (unsurprisingly, a much better one than the English language stories here) and they had this striking picture:



SEOUL, Feb. 13 -- To appreciate the fury that has gripped South Korea since Sunday, imagine this:

The Alamo (or Independence Hall or the Old North Church) is set afire. There is live prime-time coverage on national television. Firefighters rush to the scene but dither for more than an hour before spraying any water. As the irreplaceable goes up in smoke, firemen argue jurisdictional niceties with government preservationists.

Police nab the perpetrator before the ashes are cold. He is a 69-year-old man with a record of arson. He admits setting the fire, telling police that the landmark was "easy to approach and poorly guarded."

That scenario played out here this week. But the torched structure was a massive 610-year-old wooden gate that was part of the fortress walls that once protected Seoul. Known as Namdaemun, which means Great South Gate, it was the country's single most important historical treasure.

"The soul of Korea burned overnight," said an editorial in the JoongAng Daily, a Seoul newspaper.

Namdaemun was officially proclaimed "National Treasure No. 1" in 1962. It was the oldest wooden structure in Seoul, having served as the city's ceremonial entrance since 1398. It survived Japanese occupation. It survived the Korean War. Here in what has been called the world's most wired society, it survived South Korea's obsession with all things new -- until last Sunday evening.

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