Political satires scheduled to be displayed in the Members’ Hall of the National Assembly were demolished by the secretariat of the National Assembly shortly before the exhibition opened, causing controversy.
The exhibition, entitled “2023 Goodbye Exhibition in Seoul”, was hosted by the Seoul National Federation of Arts Groups and the Goodbye Exhibition Organizing Committee, and was co-hosted by the Democratic Party and 12 independent lawmakers.
The exhibit was scheduled to showcase political satire by about 30 artists, including works criticizing President Yoon Seok-yeol and First Lady Kim Kun-hee.
The exhibition organizers had finished installing the artwork in the lobby of the National Assembly Members’ Hall yesterday afternoon (8), a weekend, but it is known to have been torn down overnight.
Representative Min Hyung-bae and others held a press conference at the National Assembly about this and called for the exhibit to be restored to its original state, saying, “I am ashamed of the reality that even the National Assembly cannot tolerate the freedom of expression.”
Earlier, the National Assembly secretariat sent an official correction request sent to Min Hyeong-bae’s office, saying, “The freedom of expression guaranteed by the constitution must be fully respected, but we request that the exhibited works be voluntarily removed in accordance with the ‘regulations on the use of the meeting room and hall of the hall of deputies of the National Assembly’”.
According to the “Regulations for the Use of the Conference Room and Hall Hall of Members of the National Assembly”, the use of the meeting room or hall is not permitted if the meeting or event is judged to be a meeting or an event that could violate the rights of others, public morals or social ethics, such as slandering a specific individual or group.
