A fire broke out early Saturday at Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul, damaging part of a wooden gate and pillar, but was extinguished within 15 minutes with no casualties. The Korea Heritage Service cited spontaneous combustion as a possible cause.
A fire erupted around 5:35 a.m. on March 28 near Sambimun, the outer gate to Jaseondang Hall at Gyeongbok Palace in central Seoul. A safety guard on patrol extinguished it by about 5:50 a.m., according to the Korea Heritage Service (KHS).
The blaze partially damaged a wooden gate and pillar at the royal palace, but no casualties were reported. Fire authorities inspected the site and pointed to spontaneous combustion as a potential cause. No signs of people or flammable materials were found there.
KHS administrator Huh Min posted on X, formerly Twitter, that an investigation into the exact cause is underway. He pledged to operate an around-the-clock disaster center regularly during the dry season to prevent similar incidents.
Gyeongbok Palace, the largest of Seoul's royal complexes, drew around 6.9 million visitors last year, accounting for 38.7 percent of all visitors to royal palaces and tombs.
