But it makes one shudder to imagine what could have happened if the government complex had burned down. The Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs, Education Ministry, Unification Ministry, Ministry of Gender Equality, Government Information Agency and the National Emergency Management Agency are located in the complex. If the documents and files in those ministries had turned into ashes, one third of the function of the central government would have ground to a halt. In Japan last year, the disappearance of the national pension records of 50 million people led to the resignation of the prime minister and his Cabinet.

A sprinkler system had not even been installed inside the government complex. That’s because it was built in 1970 and regulations making sprinkler systems mandatory in buildings more than 11 stories high did not take effect until 1973. Even among the five buildings at the government complex in Gwacheon, two that were built in 1982 do not have sprinkler systems. Those buildings are only seven to eight stories high, so they are not legally required to have them. But it is astounding that the government has been so lax about fire safety. Even movie theaters measuring 1,000 sq.m or more and shopping arcades of 6,000 sq.m or more must be equipped with sprinklers. Moreover, a fire broke out at the government complex in Sejongno in 1999.

When the fire broke out at the Sejongno complex in the early hours of Thursday morning, government workers rushed to the roof to escape. But they found the door to the top floor had been blocked. As they saw the smoke rising from the lower levels, they said they thought they were going to die. Fires at karaoke halls and boarding houses often lead to losses of many lives because emergency exits are blocked. That same situation could have occurred again at the central government complex. Some of the government workers on the night shift found out about the fire in their building by seeing it on the TV news. That means even the fire alarms hadn’t been working properly. This is the level of basic readiness at the South Korean government complex.

The central government complex is the nerve center of our country. The installation of fire prevention facilities should be a top priority. During the Chosun Dynasty, state records were kept in four different locations in case of fire or war. Our modern-day government is less prepared than the government of the Chosun Dynasty 500 or 600 years ago.