Historic Seoul gate gutted

Seoul, South Korea: A 600-year-old gate in central Seoul listed as South Korea's number one national treasure and the country's landmark symbol has been destroyed, possibly by an arsonist, police said on Monday.

The loss of the gate, whose history is drummed into South Korean school children from an early age, caused widespread shock and dismay to ordinary citizens, many of whom gathered to look in horror at a national icon reduced to ashes.

Officials said the fire that engulfed Namdaemun, or Great South Gate, was believed to have been contained late on Sunday but reignited after midnight, destroying the wooden structure, despite the efforts of more than 100 firefighters.

"It feels like the pride of the nation and hope is lost and crumbled," said onlooker Lee Mimi, a Seoul housewife.

Kim Chul-min of the Culture Ministry said the gate was one of the few links to Korea's ancient history in a fiercely modernised city. Experts said a combination of structural design and misjudgment by nearly everyone involved led to the devastation.

"Without doubt the fire could have been controlled in the early stage," said Professor Lee Su-kyung of the Seoul National University of Technology, had the firefighters targeted the right spot. "Someone could have gone inside the structure. I just don't understand."

Architecture professor and disaster prevention expert Roh Sam-kew of Kwangwoon University said key parts of the gate, including the oversized roof, were wooden, which made the blaze nearly impossible to contain once it began spreading.

Police said they were searching for a man whom a witness said broke into the stone and wooden structure and started the fire.