SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - A 69-year-old man upset over a land dispute has admitted setting the fire in Seoul that destroyed the 14th-century gateway considered South Korea's most treasured landmark, police said Tuesday.
The suspect in the blaze at Namdaemun gate was arrested late Monday on Ganghwa Island, west of Seoul, and was investigated overnight at police headquarters in the capital. The 69-year-old man, identified only by his family name, Chae, spoke briefly with reporters Tuesday while being escorted from police headquarters to the district office handling the case.
"I cannot say enough how sorry I am, to my children and the public," said the suspect, wearing a white mask and hat in apparent attempts to hide his identity.
The fire broke out Sunday night and burned down the wooden structure at the top of the Namdaemun gate, which once formed part of a wall that encircled the South Korean capital. The structure collapsed as hundreds of firefighters attempted to get the blaze under control.
President-elect Lee Myung-bak visited the fire scene Monday and said the destruction of the ancient gate had wounded the city and that "people's hearts will ache."
Yoo Hong-joon, head of the Cultural Heritage Administration, tendered his resignation to outgoing President Roh Moo-hyun on Tuesday to take responsibility for the fire, Roh's office said.
Police said the suspect had cased the crime scene in July and December last year. On Sunday, he poured a bottle of paint thinner on the floor of the wooden structure and left two other bottles nearby before setting it on fire with a disposable lighter, district police Chief Kim Young-soo said in a televised news conference.
Police found a can of paint thinner and leather gloves at the house of Chae's ex-wife on Ganghwa Island, Kim said.
He said the suspect had complained about a land dispute with a development company, saying that he did not get enough compensation from the developer for about 100 square meters (1,076 square feet) of his residential land in Gyeonggi province near Seoul.
Kim said the suspect had been charged in 2006 with setting fire to Changgyeong Palace in Seoul, which caused 4 million won ($4,230) in damage.
In 2006, the suspect was given a suspended sentenced of 18 months in prison and was fined 13 million won ($13,700), Kim said.
The suspect "committed the crime after nursing a grudge" over the fine and what he considered insufficient compensation for the land, Kim told reporters.
The suspect said he picked the 610-year-old landmark because it was easily accessible, according to police. He had initially planned to carry out an arson attack on another cultural landmark or the public transportation system, but called off those options because of heavy security and fears of a high death toll, police said.
The two-tiered wooden structure destroyed in this week's fire was renovated in the 1960s, when it was declared South Korea's top national treasure. The government built a plaza around the gate, officially known as Sungnyemun, in 2005 and opened it to the public the following year for the first time in nearly a century.
The gate - with a wooden plaque reading "The Gate of Exalted Ceremonies" in Chinese characters - had been off-limits to the public since Japanese colonial authorities built a nearby electric tramway in 1907. Japan ruled the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945.
The Cultural Heritage Administration said it would take at least three years and some 20 billion won ($21 million) to fully restore the gate.
Hundreds of South Koreans gathered near the badly charred structure Monday night, as several dozen police and workers stood by.
"My heart is burning," Lee Il-soo, a 56-year-old man who runs a small business, said as he fought back tears. He said the fire had destroyed the pride of South Korea.
