A fire broke out at a restaurant in Jongno-gu, Central Seoul, at around 2:35 a.m. on Wednesday, forcing 32 people at the restaurant and an adjacent hotel to evacuate. Ten were foreign visitors to Korea.

The fire was extinguished a little over an hour later. There was no report of casualties.

The fire department tentatively concluded that the fire started from an ignited gas stove.

The affected area of Ikseon-dong, Jongno-gu has been featured on a number of Korean media outlets as being the oldest clump of Korean traditional housing in Seoul.

By Lim Jeong-yeo ()


kaylalim@heraldcorp.com