![The walls of Yeongchumun Gate, the west entrance of Gyeongbok Palace in central Seoul, is vandalized with spray paint on Dec. 16. Two teen suspects were caught on Tuesday. [YONHAP]](https://undergroundartreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/9c849cbf-317a-4d91-bfc2-b57211467a20.jpg)
The walls of Yeongchumun Gate, the west entrance of Gyeongbok Palace in central Seoul, is vandalized with spray paint on Dec. 16. Two teen suspects were caught on Tuesday. [YONHAP]
The historic Gyeongbok Palace in central Seoul was vandalized with spray paint graffiti in mid-December, and not just once: The next night, yet another fresh batch of graffiti appeared on the walls.
The Cultural Heritage Administration immediately began a restoration project that would take up to a few weeks, and the Seoul Jongno Police Station got to work tracking down the suspects by analyzing security camera footage.
The police are now investigating the culprits: two males, one 17 and one in his 20s, who both admitted to the crime on separate days. The teenager, who is responsible for the first graffiti, claimed that somebody had offered to pay him to spray-paint the address of illegal streaming websites, while the man in his 20s said he had “wanted attention” for the second.
The police are now trying to identify the person who had given the order to the teenager. The Gyeongbok Palace walls are set to return to normal on Jan. 4.
BY SHIN MIN-HEE [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]