Teenager Caught Vandalizing 'Yeonghwa Gongjja' at Gyeongbokgung... Police Warn of "Strict Punishment"

Two Arrested... "Committed Crime After Offer of Money"

Two suspects who vandalized the wall of Gyeongbokgung Palace with spray paint and fled were arrested by the police on the 19th, about 90 hours after the incident occurred.

Both are teenagers and are known to have committed the crime after receiving an offer from an acquaintance who said, "I will give you money." It is expected to take a considerable amount of time to fully restore the Gyeongbokgung wall. The police plan to investigate whether there is a mastermind behind the crime.

Seoul Jongno Police Station announced that at around 7:08 p.m. on the 19th, they arrested A (17) at his residence in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, and about 10 minutes later, at 7:25 p.m., they also apprehended B (16).

Graffiti on the wall of Gyeongbokgung Palace [Photo by Yonhap News]

They are charged with damaging cultural heritage (violation of the Cultural Heritage Protection Act) by spray-painting graffiti on the left and right sides of Yeongchumun Gate on the west side of Gyeongbokgung Palace and around the side gate near the National Palace Museum of Korea from around 1:50 a.m. on the 16th. The graffiti, which includes phrases meaning "free movies" and refers to illegal video sharing sites, extends to a total length of 44 meters.

The main perpetrator, A, repeatedly wrote the graffiti himself, while B is reported to have kept watch nearby to see if anyone was passing by.

The police are considering applying charges of property damage for the graffiti left on the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency wall. They are also accused of leaving 9 meters of graffiti with the same content on the outer wall of the East Gate of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency at around 2:44 a.m. on the same day.

Earlier, the police analyzed the escape route of A and others based on CCTV footage around the crime scene. It is known that they took a taxi near their residence in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, and got off near Gyeongbokgung Palace around 1 a.m. on the 16th, where there were few people around.

On the morning of the 16th, red and blue spray paint graffiti was found on the west wall of Gyeongbokgung Palace, near the National Palace Museum in Jongno-gu, Seoul.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

They planned the crime after receiving an offer from an acquaintance who said, "If you write graffiti about illegal video sharing sites, I will give you money." However, the site in question has stated that it is not related to the crime.

The police are investigating the arrested A and B regarding the specific motives and circumstances of the crime, as well as whether there were accomplices or masterminds involved.

Their crime has also led to copycat offenses. A man in his 20s, C, who made the second graffiti the day after A and others, voluntarily appeared at Jongno Police Station and was questioned for about six hours. C is charged with violating the Cultural Heritage Protection Act for spray-painting the name of a specific singer and album titles on the left wall of Yeongchumun Gate at Gyeongbokgung Palace at around 10:20 p.m. on the 17th.

During the police investigation, C reportedly stated that he wrote the name of a specific singer and album in the graffiti because he "wanted to get attention." C has no history of mental illness and was not intoxicated at the time of the crime. The police are presuming it to be a simple copycat offense.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.