A fire at the Hangeul National Museum located in the Yongsan district in the center of Seoul (South Korea), while the museum has been closed to the public since October for enlargement work. The fire, which broke out on Saturday morning, first reached the third and then the fourth floor, and was able to be mastered after seven hours. A firefighter was injured.
The collection of approximately 89,000 pieces stored on the ground floor was not damaged. Objects “Will be transferred to the National Museum of Korea and the National Korean Folklore Museum”said a museum manager at the Korean news agency Yonhap. The transfer operation should last a month and delay the reopening of the museum to the public, initially scheduled for October.
A judicial investigation is underway, the authorities believe that it is an accidental fire which would have been caused by sparks produced during construction work.
The Hangeul National Museum, founded in 2014, is devoted to history and the origin of the Hangeul, the Korean alphabet, and retains many historical texts. Created in 1443 by King Sejong Le Grand, this alphabet with simplified characters allowed a large part of the Korean population to get out of illiteracy.