Historic gate Dongdaemun damaged by rain

By Yun Suh-young

Heunginjimun, better known as Dongdaemun (Great East Gate), has been damaged by the record downpours last Thursday, officials from the Jongno District Office said Tuesday.

Parts of the roof ridge of the ancient gate, designated as Treasure No. 1, broke off, exposing some of the clay in the interior of the upper part of the structure. The eastern gate was one of the main entrances to the capital city during the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910).

“Heavy rain must have penetrated the cracks that have formed in the gate,” an official from the office said.

He said the office had to delay the repair work due to days of torrential rain. The district office began repair work Tuesday, over four days after the damage was first reported by a taxi driver.

It is found that the office did not report the damage to the Cultural Heritage Administration for days.

Hwang Pyeong-woo, head of the Korea Cultural Heritage Policy Research Institute, said the part that fell off is about 100 centimeters long and 70 centimeters wide.

“I don’t understand why the district office didn’t know of the damage. The administrators should have discovered it first, not a citizen,” Hwang said in a message posted on the institute’s website. “In a worst-case scenario, the entire roof could collapse if rain continues to infiltrate into the building.”

Hwang claimed that the damage to the cultural asset indicates that previous repair work was done poorly.

Dongdaemun, built in 1396, was designated the country’s Treasure No. 1 in 1963.