At Gyeongbokgung, "○○a I Love You"... Seokyeongdeok Says "Citizen Awareness Must Improve"

"Must Have the Right Awareness and Pride in Our Cultural Heritage"

As arrest warrants were requested for those who vandalized the walls of Gyeongbokgung Palace with spray paint, Professor Seokyung Deok of Sungshin Women's University pointed out that "the graffiti inside Gyeongbokgung Palace is at an even more serious level."

Hangeul graffiti left inside Gyeongbokgung Palace. [Image source=Captured from Professor Seokyung Deok's SNS at Sungshin Women's University]

On the 22nd, Professor Seo stated on social media (SNS), "I was already planning to raise public awareness about the 'graffiti terror' on our cultural heritage someday," adding, "Gyeongbokgung Palace and various other palace grounds have long been covered with graffiti."

He said that despite the severe cold wave, he visited Gyeongbokgung Palace with his team the day before to investigate, reporting, "Numerous graffiti were still being committed, mostly in Hangul, but also in various languages such as English and Chinese." The photos released by Professor Seo showed graffiti written with correction fluid on the stone walls of Gyeongbokgung Palace and carvings of names and other inscriptions etched into the stones.

Korean graffiti left inside Gyeongbokgung Palace. [Image source=Captured from Professor Seokyung Deok's SNS at Sungshin Women's University]

He explained, "Of course, increasing the number of CCTV installations inside and outside Gyeongbokgung Palace could be the most practical and efficient solution, but from a long-term perspective, I believe education should be strengthened from a young age." He added, "If we create an educational environment that fosters a proper understanding, pride, and dignity toward our cultural heritage, graffiti terror will significantly decrease." Professor Seo emphasized, "Above all, it is time to improve civic consciousness," and stressed, "We ourselves must make greater efforts to preserve our cultural heritage."

On the morning of the 16th, the fence in the direction of the National Palace Museum at Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul was vandalized with spray graffiti advertising an illegal video sharing site. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Meanwhile, on the 21st, the Jongno Police Station in Seoul announced that they had requested an arrest warrant for a 17-year-old male suspect, A, on charges of violating the Cultural Heritage Protection Act. His accomplice, a 16-year-old female suspect, B, was released considering her age and degree of involvement. The couple, A and B, are accused of spraying graffiti including the phrase "Free Movies" and other phrases believed to refer to illegal video-sharing sites on the walls around Gyeongbokgung Palace in the early morning of the 16th. During the police investigation, A testified that he received a request via SNS from an unidentified person to spray graffiti and that he sprayed the specified phrases at designated locations assigned by the requester.

They said they received 100,000 won from this unidentified person before the crime. They also received instructions to graffiti the "King Sejong Statue" located in Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul, but this act was reportedly unsuccessful. Additionally, the prosecution requested an arrest warrant on the 17th for a 20-year-old imitator, C, who sprayed graffiti on the Gyeongbokgung Palace wall for the second time.