ANDREA SEABROOK, host:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Andrea Seabrook.
The Great South Gate of the city of Seoul, South Korea was built in 1389. It is officially the country's number one national treasure, or at least it was. This week, the wooden gate was burned down by an arsonist. Evans Revere is the president of the Korea Society and has also served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul.
He joins us now. Hello, sir.
Mr. EVANS REVERE (President, Korea Society): Hi, how are you?
SEABROOK: Good.
First, describe this gate for me. I know in Korean it's called Namdaemun, is that right?
Mr. REVERE: Namdaemun, literally those words mean south great gate. It also has another name of the Gate of Exalted Ritual.
SEABROOK: What does it look like?
Mr. REVERE: Oh my heavens, for those who've traveled to Asia and are familiar with gates like the gate in China, Tiananmen, it's very evocative of that sort of gate, but done with a massive stone base and a wooden upper level; a pagoda. And that entire pagoda was what was destroyed in the fire, and just a really tragic development. It was one of the cultural icons of Korea and of course of the city of Seoul. And it was the oldest wooden structure in the southern part of the peninsula.
SEABROOK: It's sort of as if, I don't know, the Washington Monument or the Statue of Liberty burnt down, huh?
Mr. REVERE: I compared it the other day to Mount Vernon, if Mount Vernon were to be destroyed. It had that effect on the people, the nation of Korea and the aftermath of the fire.
SEABROOK: Have people, I imagine the citizens of Seoul must be pretty upset.
Mr. REVERE: Extremely irate. There has been a lot of finger pointing and accusations directed against various authorities including the fire department, the antiquities commission, and even the leadership of the country has taken a bit flack for this. Obviously it was an act of arson, but a number of people are upset that there wasn't adequate security. There was a question about whether the fire department acted properly and quickly.
But all of this is reflective of pretty broad public anger. This is a country that's been through war and occupation and as a result of some tragic events over the course of their history, there's not much in the way of ancient architecture left. One of the things that you notice when you go to Korea is that virtually every one of the old buildings that you see, the old palace buildings, et cetera, has a sign in front of it describing its origins.
And in almost every instance there is an indication that at some point, 50, 100, 200 years ago, the facility or other building was destroyed by fire or occupation or invasion. And so this was one of the few things left that harkened back to an earlier period in Korean history that had pretty much survived over the centuries.
SEABROOK: Evans Revere is the president of the Korea Society. Thank you so much for talking with us.
Mr. REVERE: You're quite welcome. Delighted to chat with you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
