Fire near South Korea’s Jogye temple contained, treasures spared, officials say

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SEOUL (Reuters) -A fire broke out on Tuesday in a building housing some of South Korea’s national treasures neighbouring the historic Buddhist Jogye temple in Seoul, but it was later extinguished and there was no damage to the artefacts or injuries, fire officials said.

More than 300 monks and officials from the Jogye order, who were meeting in the building’s conference hall, were evacuated safely, Jongno district fire department official Kang Kyung-chul told a briefing.

Some three dozen fire trucks were deployed to the complex after clouds of smoke were seen billowing from the building, which is used by the Jogye order, the largest in the country, and also by a Buddhist museum that houses two national treasures and several cultural heritage artefacts.

It was not immediately clear what national treasures were in the building.

Firefighters were able to prevent the fire in the concrete building from spreading to the temple’s main hall, a largely wooden structure.

The cause of the fire was under investigation, Kang said.

Museum officials were preparing to temporarily move some of the items to protect them from soot and smoke damage, a monk and a museum official said at the scene.

(Reporting by Josh Smith, Jack Kim; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Kate Mayberry)