By Kim Heung-sook
When New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd wrote an article titled "United States of Shame" some two and a half years ago, I could sense the profound sadness and anger she must have felt towards the slow or no recovery of New Orleans after the attack of Hurricane Katrina.
``Stuff happens. And when you combine limited government with incompetent government, lethal stuff happens,'' she began, and I can't think of better words to describe my feelings about the fire that gutted one of Korea's most valued National Treasures.
Every nation has its share of insanity whether it's from genes, fury or frustration. In a country like Korea, where socio-economic changes have been devastatingly fast, you have to be prepared for the worst case of madness, such as setting fire to ``Sungnyemun,'' which used to be the oldest wooden structure in the capital.
So, shame comes not from the crime itself but from the incompetence of the government, the government that didn't even put up fire-fighting sprinklers around the historical asset, the government that didn't heed a plea for protection of the time-honored gate, the government whose officials wasted more than half an hour before deciding to extinguish the fire.
If the government did take any one of the proper steps, we could be still enjoying the beauty of Sungnyemun, better known as ``Namdaemun'' or the ``Great South Gate'' after some repairs.
Particularly lamenting is the negligence of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Kim Young-hoon, a Korean student studying in China, warned against arson on Sungnyemun in a message posted on the ministry's website on Feb. 24 of last year,
``Near Sungnyemun, I heard some homeless people say, 'Burn it down.' There is no guard at Sungnyemun, no protection at all. It was good to open the gate to the public, but it is extremely vulnerable… Please don't answer my piece from your desk but go out to the very site…'' Kim's sincere appeal was apparently ignored.
Reports say some homeless people used to sleep inside the two-story gate-house, originally built in the 14th and renovated in the 15th century. They even warmed themselves by burning pieces of wood in cans.
Disgusting were the politicians who rushed to the scene of disaster and pathetic were the uniformed guards who were suddenly positioned in front of the charred remains. Adding to public dismay was the suggestion of President-elect Lee Myung-bak that citizens raise a fund to rebuild the gate. Estimating the restoration would cost 20 billion won, he said it would be ``consoling and meaningful'' if people made donations for the work.
His statement triggered an angry backlash from citizens. ``Naver,'' ``Daum'' and other popular portal sites were flooded with comments criticizing Lee's remarks and asking him to fulfill his pledge of donation. While running for presidency, Lee announced in December that he would donate his entire wealth, reported to be over 30 billion won, to society. On the heels of heated criticism, his transition team publicly withdrew the suggestion.
Some hold Lee responsible for the fire, charging that he, as a Seoul mayor, opened the gate and its precincts to the public in 2005 and 2006, without any precautionary measures. Ohmynews.com columnist Sohn Seok-choon argued in a recent article that Lee's move represented his ``showing off'' tendency and that the fire was a warning against Lee's plan to push ahead with the Seoul-Busan canal project and the Korea-U.S free trade agreement.
While too slow rehabilitation of the hurricane-hit areas troubled Dowd and other Americans, many Koreans are concerned about too speedy a restoration of Namdaemun because the aged arsonist symbolizes the bad side-effects of the nation's record-setting economic growth.
Lee was elected president on the promise of enlivening the Korean economy, but if he is wise, he may find a lesson from the destruction of Sungnyemun, which literally means ``Gate Cherishing Morality and Etiquette.'' As I look at the black debris of the gate, I hear Dowd's last line ringing in my head and I shouldn't be the only one to do so: ``Who are we if we can't take care of our own?''