SEOUL (AFP) — Police on Wednesday sought a formal arrest warrant for the man who torched South Korea's most prized historic landmark as authorities' insensitivity toward protecting national treasures drew criticism.
The 69-year-old man identified only as Chae has confessed to setting fire to Namdaemun (South Gate), a 600-year-old building in the heart of the capital, because of grievances against officials over an unrelated land dispute.
Police on Wednesday made public a video clip which shows a blurred, distant image of a man entering the structure. Police said the line of movement dovetailed with Chae's statements made after he was detained on Monday evening.
Chae had been arrested in 2006 for trying to set fire to the city's Changgyeong palace over the same grievance. He was then fined and given a suspended prison sentence.
Chae was angry at insufficient compensation following the compulsory purchase of his home a decade ago for a land development project.
Police said he had at one time considered launching a terror attack on mass transit systems but abandoned the plan for fear of causing human casualties.
He chose Namdaemun gate, also known as Sungryemun, for his attack because it was poorly guarded.
The gate -- a pagoda-style two-storey wooden building on a stone base -- was designated national treasure number one and was a major tourist attraction. It was built in 1398, rebuilt in 1447 and renovated several times but still contained some 600-year-old timbers.
The gate's destruction sparked grief as well as anger at officials for failing to protect it. News media said many other national heritage site across the country were poorly guarded and subjected to frequent thefts and blazes.
The Korea Times said the tragedy demonstrates that "South Korea has a long way to go to join the ranks of advanced countries in preserving their cultural assets and heritage.
"We are ashamed of losing the National Treasure No. 1 which had survived foreign invasions, the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule and the 1950-53 Korean War," the paper added.
"The gate, originally called Sungryemun, is the incarnation of national pride. But it seems that this pride has been burned away with the charred structure."
Chosun Ilbo daily noted that homeless people made Namdaemun their nighttime shelter, cooking instant noodles, drinking alcohol and making a trash bin fire on its wooden floor.
It accused agents of a private security firm of often failing to respond to alarms triggered by infra-red sensors when intruders approached the gate.
"So the tragedy that hit the Sungryemun was just waiting to happen. The shoddy way the government handled the national treasure ended up pushing it into a pit of fire," Chosun said.
President-elect Lee Myung-Bak suggested a public fund-rasing campaign to rebuild Namdaemun. But his suggestion drew fire from opponents and news media.
The United New Democratic Party accused Lee of being partly responsible for the loss since he allowed Namdaemun to be opened to public access when he served as a mayor of Seoul between 2002 and 2006.
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