(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-04-25 11:44

SEOUL, South Korea -- A South Korean court sentenced an elderly man to 10 years in prison Friday for setting a fire that destroyed a 14th-century gate considered one of the country's most treasured landmarks.

The blaze at Namdaemun gate horrified South Koreans and drew international attention. The gate once formed part of a wall that encircled the South Korean capital. It was renovated in the 1960s.

The Seoul Central District Court said Chae Jong-ki, 69, was convicted of violating the Cultural Properties Protection Law by burning down the Namdaemun gate in central Seoul in February.

Chae had admitted to setting fire to the gate in anger over a land dispute unrelated to the landmark.

"It's unavoidable to sentence him to a heavy penalty as he caused unimaginable mental suffering to the people and tarnished the national image," Judge Lee Kyung-chun said in the ruling, according to court spokesman Ma Yong-joo.

Under the law, a person convicted of setting a fire to a government-designated cultural asset can be punished by up to life in prison. The Seoul court, however, did not hand down the maximum penalty against Chae because he is an aged person and the fire did not cause any human casualties, the spokesman said.

Chae has a week to determine whether to appeal.