Seoul bulldozes works by activist artist after sex offense conviction

Social Affairs

Published: 05 Sep. 2023, 16:05 Updated: 05 Sep. 2023, 21:31

Seoul bulldozes works by activist artist after sex offense conviction

Artist and activist Lim Ok-sang's sculpture located in the ″Place of Memory″ park in central Seoul, made to commemorate the "comfort women″ victims, was demolished Tuesday after Seoul's city government decided to remove six artworks of Lim in the city following his recent conviction for a sexual offense. [NEWS1]

The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Tuesday it demolished artist and activist Lim Ok-sang’s sculptures erected in a park in central Seoul to pay respects to “comfort women” victims following his recent conviction for sexual assault.

The city government said it spent two days removing a pair of sculptures honoring victims of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery in the “Place of Memory” park on Mount Nam beginning Monday morning.

Artist-activist Lim Ok-sang found guilty of sexual assault

The removal was halted Monday afternoon when several civic groups, including the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, staged a rally protesting the removal of the sculptures from the park.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon denounced the civic group on Facebook on Tuesday, accusing it of negating its own reason for being as a community to protect victims of wartime sexual slavery by hindering the removal of a piece of art by an admitted sex offender.

“It is an insult to the victims of wartime sexual slavery to have artworks created by an artist convicted of a sexual offense at a space to commemorate them,” the Seoul city government said.

The 73-year-old artist was given a suspended sentence last month for sexually harassing a female employee in 2013.

He was indicted without detention in June for forcedly hugging and kissing a female employee in his studio.

Lim admitted to the charges against him and was sentenced to six months in prison with a two-year suspension during his first trial held on August 17.

The court also ordered him to complete 40 hours of sexual offender treatment. He appealed his sentence a week later, saying the sentence was too heavy.

Following the sentence, the city government announced it would remove all six of Lim’s artworks in Seoul.

According to the metropolitan government, 53.6 percent of 1,000 Seoul citizens in a survey said Lim’s artworks should be removed from the park, while 11.4 percent said the entire park should be shut down.

Some 23.4 percent said the sculptures should be maintained, with only the name of the artist removed, as urged by the civic group Issues Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan.

The Place of Memory will be maintained and filled with new pieces after consulting experts and related authorities, according to the city government.

The other four artworks, including a bowl-like observatory in Haneul Park in western Seoul and a sculpture named "Seoul Sketch" near Seoul City Hall in central Seoul, have been taken down as well.

Lim is considered part of the revolutionary minjung art movement that artistically supported protests against Korea's military dictatorship of the 1980s.

For the past five decades, Lim has voiced his political opinions through his paintings, sculptures and live performances.

His painting of a night in Gwanghwamun Square in 2016 which portrayed Korean citizens protesting former President Park Geun-hye was hung inside the main building of the Blue House.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]