College lecturer fined for spraying graffiti on G-20 posters

SEOUL, Oct. 13 (Yonhap) -- The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld lower courts' guilty verdict and fine on a local college lecturer for spraying graffiti on dozens of posters plastered in downtown Seoul to promote the country's 2010 hosting of a meeting of leaders of the world's 20 major economies.
The 41-year-old man surnamed Park was issued a 2 million won (US$1,727) fine by two lower courts for painting stenciled mice during the early hours of Oct. 31 last year on 22 posters and other promotional materials installed in key places in Seoul to publicize the meeting held the following month.
The lecturer had claimed the graffiti featuring a mouse, or "jwi" in Korean which sounds like G, was only meant to be satirical and should be pardoned under the freedom of expression.
The Supreme Court, however, cited the lower courts' judgement that "The graffiti made on G-20 posters constitutes an act prohibited by the criminal law, going beyond the scope of the freedom of artistic creation and expression."
The conviction of Park, along with previous physical detention of him by police, had triggered public criticism that authorities responded too harshly to civilians expressing discontent with government policies.
pbr@yna.co.kr
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