Fire destroys South Korean landmark

May have worked in 70’s.

well I was there in the seventies and until 1982, and they were castrating college kids in Kwangju even in the eighties, so if even the beggars there now have unassailable civil rights they've come a long way in just half a generation. I suspect that some elements of society over there (beggars, orphans, and the handicapped) are still considered more expendable than the rest. Back when I was there the Korean people would not admit that those folks were equally fellow humans. Christian missionaries started the orphanages over there because the Koreans would otherwise execute orphans to prevent them from becoming beggars or criminals.

I can still remember vividly a time when I was over at a Korean friends house and his mentally retarded sister came out of the place where they kept her hidden. How they screamed at her. The abject horror on their faces as they all (grandparents, parents, children) implored me (a mere child) to keep their family shame a secret and to forget what I had seen and tell nobody. This was a good Christian Korean family. A good Buddhist family would have seen to it that she died shortly after birth. I was amazed that my friend had never counted her when I had asked how many brothers and sisters he had. But I was also a little amazed that they kept her clothed, fed, and in good health except for being very pale, considering that most Korean families would not have been this caring.

I hope you're right that Korean Police wouldn't rough up a beggar now. When I was there the Korean people claimed they didn't even see the beggars. They might inadvertently spit on the cardboard that a beggar lived and slept on while walking down the street. Much like the supposed invisible wall around men urinating in public that only vulgar eyes could see through, they just looked the other way. I remember Koreans literally sweeping beggars away from in front of their home or business with a broom. They would begin sweeping dirt and grime toward the beggar and if he didn't move they would sweep it onto him and begin sweeping him with the broom until he did move, all the while acting as though there was nothing there but the dirt. I find it hard to believe that the Korean public would now care more for the rights of a few beggars than the expediency with which the Seoul police can find a good scapegoat to blame for this international "loss of face".

I don't think so. He is not a derelict. He used to live in Koyang. His life was ordinary until he feels that he did not get paid fairly for the land which was appropriated for constructing apartment complex. He asked for $400K, and they only gave $100K. He grew angry at the authorities who did not take on his side. So he first attempted to torch a building inside Chang-gyung palace. The fire burnt down a door to the building but was put out in time.

The damage was about $4000. The court gave him suspended sentence, considering his old age and the fact that he had no prior record. However, the compensation/fine of $13,000 he was forced to pay drove him destitute. So he got angry again and went back to his protest by torching a landmark.

Obviously he was seriously misguided and angry man. The reason he got caught so fast is that police started to check those who had prior record on damaging historical landmark. He is not a beggar or homeless roaming around the place, as it turned out.

As you said, they do not have to go far from Namdaemun to find beggars or homeless. These days, Seoul Train Station works as a night shelter for homeless. If you go there early morning or late night, you may see hundreds of them dozing at the chairs of the main lobby.

I came across one of them right after 4am when I got off a train. There were a few really disturbed people, who went around yelling non-stop. One of them came to me and taunt for a few minutes for no reason.

If police behaved as you said, that would be the first place to go. There would be more than one real nutcase, and frame him as the culprit.

However, would it have worked? I don't think so. Based on the evidence on the scene, it was a premeditated act after some planning.

There are some high-profile unsolved cases in S. Korea. Multiple murders of women over several years. And double murder of kids more than 10 years ago. I wonder why police was unable to find a convenient scapegoat in those cases.

There is some work to be done about comparing possible finger prints on the lighters found at the scene with the suspect's fingerprints.

Apparently, the suspect did not bother to cover his tracks carefully. He casually walked out of the scene and took a cab and went to the place of his son, and stayed there overnight, and went home the next day. He now lives in Kanghwa.

So your charge of rounding up vagrants and beating the crap out of them until one of them confess is not true.

Reportedly he case the place in last July and December, so that he can presumably figure out how to go in and out of the place, undetected. The place has security cameras, and daytime security personnel. He was able to elude all of them, by picking the right time and the route of entry.

I think you jumped the gun on this case.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.