SEOUL (Reuters) - A South Korean pensioner on Friday re-enacted entering a 600-year-old gate designated the country's top treasure and setting it on fire, saying he was sorry that the gate was gone, but adding that no one was hurt by his actions.
The massive stone and wood structure Namdaemun, or "GreatSouth Gate," was reduced to a charred hulk on Monday, and therehas been a steady outpouring of anger and sense of outrage atthe destruction of an iconic symbol of national pride.
"I don't think this is a feeling that will go away soon,"said labourer Kim Jae-dong. Jang Kyeong-joon, a privatebusiness owner, said: "Who knows how many years longer thatgate might have stood there for the future generation. Hebasically burnt down the face of the country."
The 69-year-old suspected arsonist Chae Jong-gi said he wassorry that he had destroyed something that was dear to so manypeople, but defiantly added: "Nobody got hurt. You can alwaysrestore a cultural heritage."
Chae, with a scarf draped over his hands in cuffs andwearing a surgical mask and a baseball hat over his grey hair,was led to Namdaemun by police to re-enact the climb up theside of the gate and setting the blaze with paint thinner.
South Korean police often take suspects, with TV cameras,back to crime scenes in high-profile cases for re-enactments,which are part of the criminal investigation and are often seenas an act of contrition by the apprehended person.
Chae said he acted on impulse but maintained that he did itout of revenge against the government which he said treated himunfairly. Police have said Chae was angry over compensation fora development project that claimed his property.
Chae was convicted in 2006 for starting a fire to thatcaused minor damage to a palace but the court had suspended hissentence.
The gate, built in 1398, was the oldest wooden structure inSeoul. It had withstood invasions, colonial occupation and wasone of the few historic structures in the capital to remainstanding after the 1950-53 Korean War.
There have been several renovations to the structure, alsocalled Sungnyemun, or "Gate of Exalted Ceremonies," the lastone taking place in the early 1960s.
(Reporting by Lee Jiyeon and Jack Kim; Editing by KeironHenderson and Sanjeev Miglani
