Police Request Arrest Warrant for Teen Suspect in 'Graffiti on Gyeongbokgung Wall' Case

The police have applied for an arrest warrant for a teenage suspect who vandalized the wall of Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul with spray paint graffiti.

The graffiti vandals who spray-painted and damaged the wall of Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul were caught and brought to the Jongno Police Station in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 19th.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

On the 21st, the Jongno Police Station in Seoul announced that they had applied for an arrest warrant for Mr. A (17) on charges of violating the Cultural Heritage Protection Act. However, considering the age and degree of involvement in the crime, accomplice Ms. B (16) was released around midnight on the same day.

The couple, Mr. A and Ms. B, are accused of spray-painting phrases such as "Free Movies" and other expressions believed to refer to illegal video sharing sites on the Gyeongbokgung Palace wall area in the early morning of the 16th. The spray cans used as tools for the crime were reportedly purchased by them and discarded at the scene after the act.

During the police investigation, Mr. A stated that he received a request through social networking services (SNS) from an unidentified person offering money to do graffiti, and that he sprayed the specified phrases at the designated location given by the requester. The police arrested Mr. A at 7:08 p.m. on the 19th and his accomplice Ms. B seventeen minutes later at their residence in Suwon City, Gyeonggi Province. A police official said, "We regard the damage to cultural heritage as a serious crime and will conduct a strict investigation."

Meanwhile, it is known that the prosecution filed an arrest warrant with the court on the 17th for Mr. C, a man in his 20s who imitated the graffiti on the Gyeongbokgung Palace wall for the second time using spray paint.

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