The Daeungjeon Hall of Naejangsa Temple, located in Jeongeup, Jeollabuk-do, was completely burned yesterday (5th) to ashes. A monk drank alcohol and lit a fire in regret, and the Daewoongjeon of Naejangsa Temple, a thousand-year-old temple, has left a painful history of being burned down four times.
This is JTV Joo Hye-in.
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Red flames swallowed up Daeungjeon, Naejangsa Temple in Jeongeup.
Last night, after two and a half hours, the fire was completely turned off at around 9:10, but the wooden building, Daeungjeon, turned to ashes.
As you can see, the wooden pillars that made up a thousand-year old temple are all burnt black, and only broken roof tiles are scattered on the floor.
The burnt out fire extinguisher tells you how terrible the situation was at the time.
Police arrested a monk in his 50s for sprinkling gasoline and setting a fire at the scene of the fire and filed an arrest warrant.
This monk called the police yesterday evening to report that he had set fire.
The monk, who had stayed at Naejangsa Temple for training since three months ago, stated that the monks who had lived with him drank alcohol and set fire in regret.
[경찰 관계자 : 수행승으로 생활하면서 조금 서운한 감정이 있었던가 봐요. 자신이 좀 홀대를 받았다든가….]
This is the fourth time that Daewoongjeon of Naejangsa Temple has disappeared in flames.
After being burned down by Jung Yoo-Jae-ran and the Korean War, it disappeared due to an estimated electric leakage in 2012, and was restored to citizens’ donations and a budget of 2.5 billion won.
[대우 스님/내장사 : 또 참화로 지켜내지 못하고 소실된 데 대해서 참 뼈아픈 아픔을 느끼고(있습니다.)]
The Korean Buddhist Jogye Order said it would discipline monks captured as arsonists to the highest level.
(Video coverage: Ahn Sang-jun and Kim Yang-ho JTV)