On 6 June 2018, Memorial Day in South Korea, Korean artist Taeyong Jeong (HIDEYES) spray-painted remnants of the Berlin Wall at Berlin Square in Seoul. This was done to celebrate the April 2018 inter-Korean Summit, a first step towards reconciliation between North and South Korea in eleven years. On 27 August 2018, Mr. Jeong was charged with destruction of public goods, under Article 141 of the Korean Penal Code. A civil lawsuit was also lodged against him. AGL argued for the first time in a court of law that graffiti is a form of social and political commentary deserving of protection under Korean constitutional law, and international human rights law. Through this case, AGL created an important legal precedent which extends the space for free expression to graffiti.
Read the AGL submission here.
Intervention Team:
- Legal Strategy and International Representation: AGL
- Case Coordinator: Prof. Kyung-Sin Park
- Criminal Defense: Hong-Seok Yang (lead lawyer); Teri Kang (second lawyer), Yigong Law
- Civil Litigation Attorney: Teri Kang
- Written Submissions: Andra Matei
- Expert Testimonies: Kyoungmi Oh, Don Karl, Katia Hermann
- Translators: Hyun-soo Lim, Kay Lee
- Partner Organisations: PEN America, Artists at Risk Connection (ARC)
Special note of thanks to Dr. Klaus Lederer, Senator for Culture and Europe in Berlin who kindly agreed to submit an expert opinion in favor of the defendant before the Court in Seoul and to Veit Rieber from the Senate Department for Culture and Europe for their wisdom and unfaltering support for this case.