A small pre-dawn fire at the National Palace Museum of Korea briefly raised alarms over the safety of nearly 90,000 royal artifact...

A small pre-dawn fire at the National Palace Museum of Korea briefly raised alarms over the safety of nearly 90,000 royal artifacts, including eight National Treasures, authorities said. Smoke was detected around 2.38am (1.38am, Singapore time) on Jan 23 in a basement mechanical room, according to the Cultural Heritage Administration and local fire officials. A duty officer confirmed the situation via CCTV and alerted firefighters six minutes later. The blaze, believed to have been caused by an overheated humidifier connected to the museum’s air-handling system, extinguished itself within minutes. No injuries or damage to artifacts were reported, though some equipment in the mechanical room was burned. Museum officials said they prepared to move artifacts stored in the basement’s open storage vault as smoke drifted toward the area. https://lnkd.in/gd_VpwCR