If You Put Glasses on the Park Chung-hee Statue, Is It Hong Jun-pyo? Flood of Complaints About Daegu Statues

Conservative Commentator Byeon Hee-jae: "Hong Jun-pyo, a Politician Riding on Park Chung-hee's Legacy"

Recently, there have been repeated criticisms that the face of the statue of former President Park Chung-hee installed at Dongdaegu Station in Daegu City resembles Mayor Hong Joon-pyo of Daegu more. In this regard, conservative commentator Byeon Hee-jae filed a complaint with the government, saying "the statue should be taken down."

On the 31st of last month, Byeon claimed on his YouTube channel that "Mayor Hong staged a statue scam." He stated, "Regardless of whether President Yoon Seok-yeol is impeached or not, this issue must be resolved first," and added, "I personally sent an official letter to the National Petition Office."

Statue of former President Park Chung-hee wearing glasses (left photo) and Hong Joon-pyo, Mayor of Daegu. Captured from an online community.

He continued, "Once the National Petition Office receives the complaint, it is forwarded to the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs. The Ministry has the authority to verify the authenticity of the statue (installation) and to order its removal," and argued, "The Ministry has the right to determine that this statue is 'not a statue of Park Chung-hee,' so I hope they make a decision immediately." He then compared a photo of the former president's statue with glasses drawn on it, which had been a hot topic in online communities, to a photo of Mayor Hong. He pointed out, "After putting glasses on, it looks exactly like Mayor Hong. Let's do a blind test. Would anyone say this statue is Park Chung-hee?"

Byeon criticized, "As far as I know, there are about ten statues of Park Chung-hee in Gyeongsangbuk-do. All those statues have the correct face of Park Chung-hee," and questioned, "Why was such a statue made only at Dongdaegu Station? If it were someone without photos, it might be understandable, but there are plenty of photos of former President Park, and several people have even met him." He also said, "It hasn't been long since a statue of former President Park was erected at the Gyeongbuk Provincial Office, and now another one is being built, which is excessive and frequent," directly criticizing Mayor Hong as a "politician who exploits Park Chung-hee's name," and concluded the video.

Statue of former President Park Chung-hee erected by Daegu City. Photo by Yonhap News

Earlier, Daegu City named the plaza at Dongdaegu Station "Park Chung-hee Plaza" as part of a commemorative project for the former president and erected a statue of Park Chung-hee in the plaza. This statue, which cost about 600 million won, depicts former President Park wearing a straw hat and harvesting. The statue was unveiled on the 23rd of last month and opened to the public, but immediately after, controversy arose as people said the statue's appearance resembled Mayor Hong Joon-pyo.

Netizens responded with comments such as, "It is definitely different from other statues of former President Park," and "No wonder the statue didn't look like former President Park. It looks more like Mayor Hong." Relatedly, former lawmaker Cha Myung-jin also claimed on social media (SNS), "The shape of the Dongdaegu statue differs significantly from the real President Park. The statue at the Gumi memorial hall seems to be the most similar to the real figure, but the one at Dongdaegu Station is too different." Hwang Soon-gyu, chairman of the Progressive Party's Daegu City Committee, also posted, "They are shouting for the removal of the Park Chung-hee statue. What is this? Isn't it Hong Joon-pyo?"