Lee Myung-bak rat poster incident

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

References
  1. "Arrest warrant for drawing rat on G20 promotion poster?". Koreatimes.co.kr. 2010-11-03. Retrieved 2014-06-02.
  2. Park (박), Hong-du (홍두); Park Eun-ha (박은하) (2010-12-14). [2010 사건과 사람] (1) ‘G20’ 쥐 그림 풍자 박정수씨. Kyunghyang Shinmun (in Korean). Retrieved 2011-03-11.
  3. Lim (임), A-yeong (아영) (2011-02-15). "'쥐그림 기소·민간인 사찰' 유엔 간다 (Rat Poster & Illegal Civilian Surveillance Going to the UN)". Kyunghyang Shinmun (in Korean).
  4. Park (박), Yu-yeong (유영) (2011-03-09). "'G20포스터 쥐그림' 대학강사 "예술행위일 뿐"". Newsis (in Korean). Retrieved 2011-05-29.
  5. Cho (조), Mi-deop (미덥) (2011-05-13). "'G20 포스터 쥐그림' 강사 벌금 200만원". The Kyunghyang Shinmun (in Korean). Retrieved 2011-11-29.
  6. Song (송), Gwang-ho (광호) (2011-05-02). "이창동 감독, '쥐그림 처벌말라' 탄원". Yonhap News (in Korean). Retrieved 2011-11-17.
  7. Kwon (권), O-seong (오성) (2011-05-14). "'쥐그림 티셔츠로 벌금 300만원 내주자' 운동". The Hankyohreh (in Korean). Retrieved 2011-12-10.
  8. Jeong (정), Jae-ho (재호) (2011-10-29). "[사건과 사람] "표현의 자유, 정치권력이 재단 절감했다"". Hankook Ilbo (in Korean). Archived from the original on 2011-10-30. Retrieved 2011-11-19.
  9. Nahm (남), Bo-ra (보라) (2011-12-09). "MB 풍자 그림 재미작가가 붙였다". Hankook Ilbo (in Korean). Archived from the original on 2011-12-09. Retrieved 2011-12-10.
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