[Online Community]
SEOUL -- A crucial monument made of concrete pieces from the Berlin Wall has been damaged with illegal graffiti, sparking an investigation by police.
The monument, which was made of three linked concrete pieces donated by Berlin to Seoul in 2005, has been placed in a park near Cheonggyecheon, a stream that flows through the heart of Seoul and was restored as a modern public recreation and popular tourist spot.
Jung Tae-yong, 28, who described himself a graffiti artist, uploaded selfies showing the desecrated monument on Instagram on Friday night. He said the monument was painted with stripes of blue, red and white and trigrams inspired by South Korea's national flag, Jung wrote.
On the other side of the monument, Jung wrote slogans promoting his startup saying the patterns painted on the wall are used on his products.
[Jung Tae-yong's Instagram]
"Police informed us this morning that because its graveness, they decided to launch an investigation without complaints," Lee Sang-jun, a Seoul city official, told Aju News on Monday.
Lee said the monument was badly damaged. "It was so badly damaged, we are not sure if we can restore it to its former condition." South Korea strictly punishes those who vandalize public properties. In November last year, two British graffiti gang members were arrested for vandalizing subway trains and given a four-month jail sentence each.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
