Lee Myung-bak rat poster incident explained

In the Lee Myung-bak rat poster incident in Seoul, South Korea, university instructor Park Jeong-su (박정수) was indicted by the South Korean authorities for drawing a face of a rat on a promotional poster for the 2010 G-20 Seoul summit. The conservative Lee Myung-bak government was criticized for encouraging institutionalized censorship and abuse of authority, while the Supreme Prosecutors' Office of the Republic of Korea (SPO) was accused of being overly-supportive of the government.

Background

University instructor Park Jeong-su vandalized a G-20 promotional poster by drawing a rat before the 2010 G-20 Seoul summit.[1] There was concerns that he was released under the court orders despite the SPO over-pressuring his investigation to cater the ruling party.[2] "Rat" was the popular nickname of then-President Lee Myung-bak. The letter "G" in "G20" is a homophone to "rat" in Korean. The Non-governmental organization citizen group called the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy planned to present his incident to the 16th meeting of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.[3] He later argued in his own defense that his rat drawing of the South Korean president has artistic merits.[4] He was later fined.[5] This has caused disputes of whether freedom of speech is legally upheld in South Korea.

Reactions

Lee Chang-dong had petitioned against the prosecution of Park Jeong-su.[6]

Some netizens proposed to pay his fine by selling T-shirts of his rat drawing.[7]

Remarks

Park later remarked, "After I experienced this incident, despite the freedom of the press and the freedom of speech are mandated by law, I feel that the political authority dictates both of them in reality".[8]

Similar Incidents

A US-based South Korean artist was arrested for showing a comical portrait of Lee Myung-bak in a Nazi uniform similar to Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator.[9]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Arrest warrant for drawing rat on G20 promotion poster? . . 2010-11-03 . 2014-06-02.
  2. News: Hong-du (홍두) . Park (박) . Park Eun-ha (박은하) . ko:[2010 사건과 사람] (1) ‘G20’ 쥐 그림 풍자 박정수씨 . 2010-12-14 . http://news.khan.co.kr/kh_news/khan_art_view.html?artid=201012140003165&code=940202 . . 2011-03-11 . Korean.
  3. News: A-yeong (아영) . Lim (임) . ‘쥐그림 기소·민간인 사찰’ 유엔 간다 (Rat Poster & Illegal Civilian Surveillance Going to the UN) . 2011-02-15 . . Korean.
  4. News: Yu-yeong (유영) . Park (박) . 'G20포스터 쥐그림' 대학강사 "예술행위일 뿐" . 2011-03-09 . . 2011-05-29 . Korean.
  5. News: Mi-deop (미덥) . Cho (조) . ‘G20 포스터 쥐그림’ 강사 벌금 200만원 . 2011-05-13 . . 2011-11-29 . Korean.
  6. News: Gwang-ho (광호) . Song (송) . 이창동 감독, '쥐그림 처벌말라' 탄원 . 2011-05-02 . . 2011-11-17 . Korean.
  7. News: O-seong (오성) . Kwon (권) . ‘쥐그림 티셔츠로 벌금 300만원 내주자’ 운동 . 2011-05-14 . The Hankyohreh . 2011-12-10 . Korean.
  8. News: Jae-ho (재호) . Jeong (정) . [사건과 사람] "표현의 자유, 정치권력이 재단 절감했다" | date = 2011-10-29 | url = http://news.hankooki.com/lpage/society/201110/h2011102902305421950.htm | work=Hankook Ilbo | accessdate = 2011-11-19 | language = Korean | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20111030112052/http://news.hankooki.com/lpage/society/201110/h2011102902305421950.htm | archivedate = 2011-10-30 .
  9. News: Bo-ra (보라) . Nahm (남) . MB 풍자 그림 재미작가가 붙였다 . 2011-12-09 . . 2011-12-10 . Korean . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20111209225039/http://news.hankooki.com/lpage/society/201112/h2011120920580621950.htm . 2011-12-09 .