[News Terms] Gyeongbokgung 'Graffiti Terror' and 'Vandalism'

On the 16th, teenage boys and girls who vandalized the wall of Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul with spray paint were caught four days later. They testified that they committed the act after receiving an offer from someone they contacted through Telegram, saying, "If you graffiti an illegal video sharing site, we will pay you," and the police are tracking the person who requested the graffiti. A man in his 20s who committed a copycat crime in the same manner the day after the incident confessed, "I wanted to get attention, so I did the graffiti."

Police are on guard duty in front of the wall facing Gyeongbokgung Palace and the Palace Museum in Jongno-gu, Seoul, where a 'graffiti vandalism' incident occurred. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Such acts of wantonly destroying or damaging cultural heritage or artworks are called 'vandalism.' Broadly, it also includes acts that damage the appearance of public facilities or natural landscapes through graffiti or indiscriminate development. It is said to have originated from Bishop Tour Angr?gua, who witnessed angry crowds destroying countless artworks during the French Revolution in 1794 and likened it to the Roman invasion by the Vandals, a branch of the ancient Germanic tribes.

Historically, vandalism has frequently appeared during wars or rapid social changes. In particular, religious and ethnic conflicts were the most fundamental causes that incited vandalism. Representative examples include the 'Burning of Books and Burying of Scholars' by China's Qin Shi Huang in the 3rd century BC to control ideology, where hundreds of scholars were buried alive, and the 'Herostratus Arson Incident' in the 4th century BC, where Herostratus set fire to the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, to gain notoriety for his evil deeds.

After the Reformation, in Europe, Protestants frequently destroyed statues and murals in Catholic cathedrals, and European conquerors who invaded Latin America also destroyed indigenous temples there. The Taliban, an Islamic militant group, destroyed two giant Buddha statues carved into the cliffs of Bamiyan, Afghanistan, in March 2001, citing the prohibition of idolatry, with heights of 52.5m and 32m, respectively. In 2015, the Islamic State destroyed ancient Mesopotamian relics in Mosul, Iraq, and Palmyra, Syria. These are also considered representative cases of modern vandalism.

In Korea, large-scale vandalism cases were found during the Joseon Dynasty's anti-Buddhism policy, which destroyed temples, stone Buddhas, stone pagodas, and Buddhist paintings. The destruction of cultural assets by Japanese forces during the Imjin War and the looting and burning of precious books and cultural properties stored in the Oegyujanggak by French troops during the 1866 Byeonginyangyo are similar cases. In 2008, there was also an arson incident at Sungnyemun, National Treasure No. 1.

The damaged wall of Gyeongbokgung Palace will undergo graffiti removal work, including cleaning and color matching, and is scheduled to be reopened to the public on January 4 next year. The Cultural Heritage Administration plans to strengthen its disaster prevention system by increasing patrol personnel around Gyeongbokgung and installing closed-circuit television (CCTV) to monitor the outer perimeter. It will also enhance publicity and education to inform the public that graffiti on national heritage sites is a punishable crime under the Cultural Heritage Protection Act.

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