A district court sentenced an arsonist who set fire to a 1,300-year-old Buddhist temple in Busan to five years in prison Thursday, court officials said.
The man surnamed Lee, 43, was charged with burning down a wooden gate of Beomeo Temple in mid-December, causing property damage estimated at 1 billion won ($923,000).
Lee was also accused of causing two forest fires near the temple, which destroyed the entrance of a museum inside the temple, as well as damaging the temple's drum earlier that month.
Beomeo Temple was built in 678 during the Silla Kingdom (B.C. 57-A.D. 935).
The destroyed gate Cheonwangmun (The Gate for the Heavenly King) was one of the temple's major architectural features.
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