More than 80 Pieces of Satirical Artwork Depicting President Yoon Removed from the National Assembly

An artwork on display as part of the Goodbye Exhibition in Seoul, which was removed from the Members Office Building of the National Assembly on January 9. Courtesy of the Office of Lawmaker Min Hyung-bae

The National Assembly Secretariat stirred controversy after removing more than eighty pieces of artwork from the exhibit, Goodbye Exhibition in Seoul, displayed at the Members Office Building in the National Assembly on January 9. The Secretariat removed the artworks, which included works satirizing President Yoon Suk-yeol, on grounds of internal regulations. The lawmakers who organized the exhibit condemned the act as a “violation of the freedom of expression,” but Lee Kwang-jae, secretary-general of the secretariat explained, “There was an agreement that it would be better to have the exhibit after the parliamentary inquiry into the Itaewon disaster.”

The exhibition was organized by the Seoul National Federation of Arts Groups and the Goodbye Exhibition Organizing Committee and prepared by twelve Democratic Party and independent lawmakers. It included over eighty artworks of political satire by thirty artists. One of the artworks portrayed a nude President Yoon swinging a sword along with first lady Kim Keon-hee.

The National Assembly Secretariat sent three notices from 7 p.m. Sunday asking the organizers to voluntarily remove the artworks on display claiming secretariat regulations. They then removed the artworks in the early hours of January 9. The secretariat regulation Article 6, Paragraph 5 states that the secretary-general does not permit the use of the conference hall or the lobby when the event is “deemed as a meeting or event that can violate the rights of another person, public morals, and social ethics slandering a particular individual or group.”

The lawmakers and artists who co-organized the latest event, including independent lawmaker Min Hyung-bae and Democratic Party lawmaker Kang Min-jung, held a press conference condemning the secretariat and demanded the National Assembly speaker to be responsible. They described the latest exhibition as “a resolution that the citizens will no longer be crushed to death by unjust power” and criticized, “The secretariat trampled over such resolutions with the barbaric act of removing the artworks without consent.” They argued, “The freedom of expression is a basic right in the Republic of Korea” and said, “We cannot tolerate a National Assembly Secretariat that is intent on killing (us) when we are simply making a joke.”

Secretary General Lee agreed that the freedom of artistic expression should be sufficiently guaranteed according to the Constitution and said the National Assembly should not end up in a national conflict. He said, “Many Democratic Party lawmakers agreed that it would be better to display the exhibition after the parliamentary inquiry into the Itaewon disaster,” and added, “We regret that we were unable to communicate with the participants who prepared the exhibition.”

The People Power Party attacked the Democratic Party lawmakers who organized the exhibit and said, “We cannot suppress our shock and horror.” The party’s senior spokesperson Park Jeong-ha voiced his opinion and criticized, “The exhibition that was removed went beyond political satire. It was a personal insult to the head of state.” Senior spokesperson Yang Kum-hee said, “We fiercely condemn the people in the Democratic Party who tried to destroy the spirit of our Constitution by refusing to accept the results of the presidential election, while hiding behind the freedom of expression.”