In the course of a single night and in the middle of downtown Seoul, Korea's No. 1 national treasure, the Sungnyemun, more commonly known as Namdaemun or South Gate, turned to ashes. The public watched helplessly as Seoul's main gate, which survived 600 years through the shock of wars -- including the Japanese invasion, the Manchurian invasion and the Korean War -- collapsed into a pile of charred wood. As it burned down over the course of five hours despite efforts by 330 firefighters and 95 fire engines to put out the flames, a symbol of the nation and the spirit of the Korean people was stripped bare, showing the world a side of Korea that was markedly different than its gleaming status of one of the world's 10 largest economies. The wooden board bearing the name Sungnyemun in beautiful calligraphy said to have been written by King Sejong's brother, fell off the structure and lay on the cold, hard ground. Watching this made all Koreans feel as if a part of themselves had fallen down as well.
It was at 8:50 p.m. on Sunday that firefighters were alerted to the fire. The first group of firefighters arrived at the scene three minutes later. The fire is suspected to have started at around 8:48 p.m., so efforts to put out the flames began just five minutes later. Yet unbelievably, the entire gate ended up being consumed by flames. There was no difficulty in approaching the structure and there was no shortage of firefighters either. And all of this happened in the middle of the country’s capital and while everyone was watching.
At around 9:30 p.m. when the flames seemed to have settled down with only smoke billowing from the structure, firefighters believed that the fire had been contained. They had no idea that flames continued to lurk inside the structure. Firefighters were not accustomed to the complex internal structure of traditional wooden buildings. They also had no idea that the waterproof tiles on the roof had prevented water from reaching the inner chambers of the structure. It was only at 10:40 p.m. when the flames rekindled that firefighters tore the tiles off the roof and poured water inside. But it was too late. As 48 million Koreans watched, a small flame turned into a major conflagration that burned the country's No. 1 national treasure to the ground.
In 2005, the Naksan Temple in Gangwon Province was consumed by a raging forest fire, and in 2006, an arsonist set fire to a watchtower in Suwon. Since then, there have been growing concerns over the fire hazards faced by our national treasures, but firefighting authorities have only offered superficial remedies and performed only cursory drills. Firefighters with jurisdiction over the central area of Seoul did not even have a blueprint of Sungnyemun. Mock exercises they held every year were perfunctory drills in which firefighters simply walked around the structure and inspected a fire hydrant. The only equipment inside Sungnyemun were eight fire extinguishers and one fire hydrant. Even though Sungnyemun was a wooden structure that was extremely vulnerable to fire, there was no fire alarm or sprinkler system, which are found in most buildings today.
Japan has designated Jan. 26 as a day to conduct fire prevention drills at sites designated as national treasures. On that day, regional governments not only hold fire prevention exercises, but practice rescuing priceless treasures under emergency conditions and inspect the condition of firefighting equipment at those locations. On Jan. 26, 1949, a mural at Horyuji Temple in Nara Prefecture, considered a national treasure, was damaged by fire, and later the Kinkakuji Temple in Kyoto was burned down by arson. That is what led to the designation. Hundreds of firefighters, residents, monks and other people take part in those drills, conducted under the slogan of saving the country's treasures from fire.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government, which was tasked with managing national treasure No. 1 in 2005, took it upon itself to "return" the Sungnyemun to the public and created a plaza around the structure and allowed pedestrians to access its central passageway starting in 2006. The gate became accessible to everyone, but the only people who kept watch over it were three employees of the Jung-gu District Office on weekdays and one on weekends from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. After they left for the day, security cameras and an infrared sensor were left in charge of monitoring the structure. There was no thought given to the need for increased security due to the public access to the structure.
It was two hours after the fire broke out that the Cultural Heritage Administration arrived at the scene of the fire with a blueprint of Sungnyemun -- which had been kept in Daejeon. A manual the CHA published last May on how to deal with fires at cultural heritage sites mentions nothing about exactly how to put a fire out. It wasn't until 2006 that fire prevention systems began to be installed at 124 major national treasure structures constructed of wood. But such systems have been installed in only four of those sites including the Haein Temple. But there was no telling when Namdaemun, ranked 48th on that list, would get its turn to be fitted with such a system. The first thing the CHA did on Monday morning was to put up a wall around Sungnyemun, to hide its charred remains from public view.
Firefighting officials said they were unable to deal aggressively with the fire during its early stage because they sought to be gentle with the structure to keep it from greater damage. They said CHA officials gave them the green light at 9:35 p.m. to damage a portion of the structure in order to fight the flames, but that it was too late by then. In response, the CHA passed the blame onto fire officials, saying firefighters on the scene should have made the decisions based on the circumstances at the time.
The CHA is saying it can restore the Sungnyemun to its original shape in two to three years at a cost of W20 billion (US$1=W945). They just don't know the difference between culture and cultural asset. The Sungnyemun was a witness to our history -- from the time it was built in the seventh year of the reign of King Taejo (1398), renovated in the 29th year of the reign of King Sejong (1447), survived Japanese and Manchurian invasions and watched the tragedy of the Korean people fighting each other during the Korean War. The reality is that the Sungnyemun is gone. The newly-built gate will be a 21st century structure that merely looks like the original.
The pain of the Korean public will not be easy to heal. Watching the face of the nation disappear into flame, Koreans acutely felt the fear that the country they believed had grown into an economic powerhouse may be just a mirage floating above the desert sand. What would foreigners living in Seoul call Korea now? How can they trust in this country after seeing what has happened?
