Conservation experts from the National Palace Museum erase graffiti written by a man in his 70s on the stone wall of Gwanghwamun Gate at Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul on August 11. / Yonhap News

Gyeongbokgung Palace, the royal palace of the Joseon Dynasty and a representative cultural heritage site of Korea, has once again been defaced by graffiti. This incident occurred just one year and eight months after spray paint vandalism in 2023.

At approximately 8:10 a.m. on the morning of August 11, the Cultural Heritage Service said that a 79-year-old man surnamed Kim was caught vandalizing the stone wall of Gwanghwamun Gate at Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul with a black marker and handed over to the police. Kim wrote on the “Musaseok” (a rectangular stone stacked beside the archway stones) located between the left and center of the three arch gates at Gwanghwamun Gate. He wrote a message addressed to “the people and the world” and was in the process of writing “President Trump” underneath when he was caught by officials from the Gyeongbokgung Palace management office. The area covered by the writing measured approximately 1.7 meters wide and 0.3 meters high. The exact intent of the graffiti remains unclear.

Conservation experts from the National Palace Museum installed protective screens and removed all the graffiti. A Cultural Heritage Service official said, “The first phase of the cleaning has been completed. We will continue to monitor for any potential reappearance of pigment.” Given that Gyeongbokgung Palace is a site frequented by tourists and citizens, some have criticized the management for being insufficient.

This is not the first time Gyeongbokgung Palace has suffered graffiti damage. On December 14, 2023, a 31-year-old man surnamed Kang sparked public outrage by paying high school students 100,000 won each to paint the name and address of an illegal website on Yeongchumun Gate of Gyeongbokgung Palace and the walls of the National Palace Museum. It is estimated that about 150 million won was spent to remove this graffiti. Kang was recently sentenced to eight years in prison in a second trial on charges including violation of the Cultural Heritage Protection Act.

The Cultural Heritage Service has said that it will respond strictly. A spokesperson explained, “Under the Cultural Heritage Conservation and Utilization Act, we can issue restoration orders to those who commit graffiti and charge them for the costs required to restore the damage.”