Turns out South Korea’s “National Treasure No. 1” was burned Sunday by 69-year-old Chae Jong-gi, a man with a grudge against the country’s government. Ever since, South Koreans have been reacting with grief, anger and finger-pointing. 

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"People’s hearts will ache,” South Korea’s President-elect Lee Myung-bak said. Namdaemun was a South Korean national treasure, a 610-year-old wooden gate located at the center of Seoul. Police have arrested a suspected arsonist, a 70-year-old man identified only by his family name, Chae. Before the fire, Namdaemun looked like this: 

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As globalization continues its culture-morphing march, it’s brandishing a powerful weapon: brunch. In Seoul, once a city so overworked from a six-day work week that tired South Koreans only socialized late in the evening, a Western-style brunch of toasted bagels and blueberry pancakes is the latest way to bond with family and friends, according to The New York Times.

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North Korea and South Korea meet at just one place, the Joint Security Area (JSA) at Panmunjom, about 40 miles north of Seoul. The demilitarized zone, the mine-riddled buffer between the two countries, doesn’t extend there. Instead, “on the demarcation line itself stand five huts,” writes the Telegraph’s Alex Bellos about a trip to the JSA. “In the middle one, which tourists are allowed to enter, the line bisects the middle of a shiny, wooden negotiating table. Meetings between the two nations still go on here. Once in the hut, you can walk round the table—thus stepping a few yards into North Korea.” Bellos provides a brief but insightful look at the JSA, with some telling details about the efforts of both sides to control the propaganda war tourists are inevitably sucked into. 

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How about raw horse meat? Japanese chefs are considering both because, given fishing limits and international demand for sushi, the country can’t get enough tuna. Martin Fackler writes in the New York Times that Japan has fallen into a “national panic,” with news programs devoting much airtime to the crisis. In Japanese sushi bars, the search is on for replacements. “At nicer restaurants, sushi chefs began experimenting with substitutes, from cheaper varieties of fish to terrestrial alternatives and even, heaven forbid, American sushi variations like avocado rolls,” Fackler writes. 

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Do you like your kimchi mild, slightly hot, moderately hot, very hot or extremely hot? The South Korean Ministry of Agriculture recently announced it has developed a five-point kimchi scale—Foreign Policy’s Blake Hounshell likens the “kimchi alert system” to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s threat advisory system—to help Westerners figure out what type of kimchi best suits their palates. The system will also measure fermentation levels. It’s all part of an ongoing effort to promote kimchi as a global food. 

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The test run of two five-car trains today was met with “jubilation and pride,” according to the Washington Post. One train ran from Munsan, South Korea to Gaesong, North Korea, and the other linked the Diamond Mountain resort in the North to the town of Jejin in the South, and both journeys were covered live by South Korean television networks. Each train carried 150 people from North and South and “new hopes of peace and unification,” writes Joohee Cho in the Post. 

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Rolf Potts is filing stories from South Korea for Slate this week. His first dispatch came from the port city of Busan, where he attended a film festival. “I am here because I worked in Busan as an English teacher in the late ‘90s, and Korean-born U.S. director Wonsuk Chin has written a screenplay about this experience, titled ‘Expats,’” Potts writes. “Since Chin is at the festival, meeting with possible financiers for his film, I’ve made plans to see him this afternoon at the Grand Hotel.” It turns out Chin was inspired, at least in part, by a story Potts wrote years ago for Salon.

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Writer Steve Knipp recently visited North Korea on a trip organized by Hyundai Corp., which is best known for its cars but also runs a tourism business in North Korea. Knipp had a good time, but he faced all kinds of restrictions. “A Hyundai executive half-jokingly says that his company’s excursions are called ‘Don’t Do It! Tours,’” Knipp writes in the Christian Science Monitor. “Cellphones, laptops, telephoto lenses, and powerful binoculars are strictly verboten. Visitors must wear photo ID tags at all times.” Among other things, Knipp was warned not to speak with locals about politics. “Two years ago,” he writes, “a South Korean woman reportedly asked a North Korean why President Kim Jong Il was the only fat man in the country, and was detained for several days as a result.” Yikes. 

Each Sunday the Times will feature a 700-word essay, written by readers, focusing on “a travel perception or adventure.” If Hubert Smith’s first installment is any indication of what’s to come, the column should be a weekly stop. Smith tells of three months he spent in Korea. His hosts were wonderfully generous and helpful, but they interfered with his every attempt to preserve private time and private space. 

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We’re a couple of the rare Americans who can’t wait for World Cup South Korea/Japan 2002. Many of the games will begin at 4 a.m. where we live, but we don’t care. We’re watching—for the football, and the inevitable cultural confusion, enlightenment and head-butting that comes when fans and teams from 32 countries get together to fly their flags and chant their songs. With less than four weeks remaining before the Cup kicks off, the zaniness has already begun. 

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South Korean tourists allowed into tightly controlled North Korea are treated to a long list of rules and regulations, little interaction with locals and, oh yes, a welcome ceremony that features a Filipino band performing “California Dreaming.” A Los Angeles Times article highlights just how political travel can be.