# 1,300 Temple Hit By Arson **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 17, 2010, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-300-temple-hit-by-arson/564448 "2010-12-17T00:31:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-300-temple-hit-by-arson/564448/1 "2010-12-17T00:31:59Z")
_Korea Times_ article [here](http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/12/113_78117.html): > [@](#): > > 1 1,300-year-old Buddhist temple in the southern coastal city of Busan was partly damaged in a night fire beliedved to be an act of arson, police said Thursday. > > Fire broke out around 9:50 p.m. Wednesday on a main wooden gate of Beomeo Temple and was contained about three hours later, they said. > > The destroyed gate Cheonwangmun (The Gate for the Heavenly King) is one of the temple’s major architectural structures that honors four mythical kings who each govern one of the directions of north, south, east and west of heaven. Wiki article on the temple [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beomeosa). What the heck? There are people living there, and those people aren’t hurting anybody at all. Plus, the temple is a beautiful building. Why destroy that? As the article mentions, one of Korea’s most famous landmarks, commonly known as Namdaemun, was destroyed a couple of years ago by an arsonist. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-300-temple-hit-by-arson/564448/2 "2010-12-17T00:41:01Z")
Some crazy people enjoy burning things. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-300-temple-hit-by-arson/564448/3 "2010-12-18T06:08:12Z")
One Korean cartoonist seems to assume that a Christian fundamentalist was responsible for the arson. > **[Fundamentalism in S. Korea](http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_entertainment/454549.html)** > > By Jang Bong-kun In the upper left panel under the title, “Religious fundamentalism,” a Christan prays, “Dear Lord, ... ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-300-temple-hit-by-arson/564448/4 "2010-12-18T08:12:26Z")
I’ve got 5:1 odds that it was a North Korean who set the fire. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-300-temple-hit-by-arson/564448/5 "2010-12-18T09:02:56Z")
Some nutter chopped up the [Glastonbury Thorn](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glastonbury_thorn) a few weeks ago, too. People are savages. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-300-temple-hit-by-arson/564448/6 "2010-12-18T14:26:02Z")
There used to be a ‘weird things in the news’ column in the paper. One category was titled “Whatever’s Not Nailed Down”, about stupid, pointless thefts of stuff, of absolutely no use to the thief. Eyeglasses. Bird baths. Door to the mailbox. Just because they could steal it, they stole it. This is the same principle, mindless, pointless evil perpetrated by the bored. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-300-temple-hit-by-arson/564448/7 "2010-12-20T12:48:48Z")
Could it be not an act of religious fundamentalism, but simply of arson for fame (like in [Ancient Greece](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herostratus))? ---
**Author:** ![orchidcolors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e8c25b/32.png) [@orchidcolors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orchidcolors)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-300-temple-hit-by-arson/564448/8 "2010-12-21T15:52:00Z")
Some people are just awful. _shakes head_ ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-300-temple-hit-by-arson/564448/9 "2010-12-21T15:54:17Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > I’ve got 5:1 odds that it was a North Korean who set the fire. Have they already destroyed all the temples in NK, for the sake of atheism? Or is it state policy to preserve them? ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-300-temple-hit-by-arson/564448/10 "2010-12-21T16:57:09Z")
Setting fire to ancient Korean gates seems to be a common thing to do. National Treasure #1 was burnt also. [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/12/world/asia/12korea.html](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/12/world/asia/12korea.html) ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-300-temple-hit-by-arson/564448/11 "2010-12-21T17:44:30Z")
> [@gazpacho](#): > > Setting fire to ancient Korean gates seems to be a common thing to do. National Treasure #1 was burnt also. > > [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/12/world/asia/12korea.html](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/12/world/asia/12korea.html) Mentioned in the OP.