Sungnyemun Gate (Namdaemun)

This guide to Sungnyemun Gate in Seoul begins on the night of February 10th, 2008, when a sixty-nine-year-old man named Chae Jong-gi leaned an aluminum ladder against Korea's most treasured gate and climbed to the upper floor carrying bottles of paint thinner. It traces his grievance over a land dispute with the government, an earlier attempt years before at Changgyeonggung Palace, and the courtroom that later called this gate the treasure among all treasures. Listen for how firefighters' early confidence gave way as the night wore on.