"To Get Attention"... 20-Year-Old Man Arrested and Prosecuted for Graffiti Imitating Gyeongbokgung Palace

Imitation Crime Following First Graffiti Incident

A man in his 20s who is accused of imitating an incident of vandalizing the wall of Gyeongbokgung Palace with spray paint has been brought to trial while in custody.

According to Yonhap News on the 15th, the Criminal Division 6 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Jeong Ji-eun) has indicted Seol (28) on charges of violating the Cultural Heritage Protection Act. Seol is accused of writing the name of a specific singer and album title in red spray paint on the left stone wall of the West Gate (Yeongchumun) of Gyeongbokgung Palace, a nationally designated cultural property, at around 10:20 p.m. on December 17 last year.

On the morning of the 16th of last month, the fence in the direction of the National Palace Museum of Korea at Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul was vandalized with spray graffiti advertising an illegal video sharing site. Photo by Yonhap News

Investigations revealed that Seol imitated the act after reading a news article about the Gyeongbokgung wall being vandalized by someone else's graffiti the day before the crime.

Seol reportedly told the prosecution that he considered graffiti on cultural heritage as a form of performance art that breaks sacredness and intended to attract others' attention through such actions.

Prior to Seol, investigations are also underway into a teenage boy, Im, and his girlfriend Kim, who wrote phrases such as "Free Movie" on the Gyeongbokgung wall with spray paint. The police are tracking down the instigator who ordered the wall vandalism.