THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS REPORTING THAT SOUTH KOREAN POLICE have arrested a 70-year-old man suspected of setting a fire that destroyed the country’s top cultural treasure, the 610-year-old Namdaemun gate in Seoul.
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AP
(Scroll down to read this morning’s posting on the fire, or click HERE.)
The man, identified only as “Chae,” was arrested Monday night near Seoul. Police said Chae’s physical appearance and outfit matched those of a person witnesses said climbed the stairs of the gate shortly before the fire started. There were also earlier reports that the national monument was monitored with surveillance cameras.
Yonhap News Agency reports:
Police said Chae’s physical appearance and outfit matched those of a person witnesses said climbed the stairs of the gate shortly before the fire started. They also found a backpack and an aluminum ladder at Chae’s house that witnesses claimed the man was carrying at the scene, the news agency said. A bottle of thinner was also found in his house, it said.
Yonhap said the man had been charged in 2006 with allegedly setting fire to the Changgyeong Palace in Seoul, which caused $4,230 in property damage. Yonhap quoted the police officer as saying Chae was only one of several suspects.
The Cultural Heritage Administration said it would take at least three years to fully restore the gate and it would cost some $21 million. Some 360 firefighters fought to bring the blaze under control, said Lee Sang-joon, an official with the National Emergency Management Agency.
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