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| Snow sculptures of characters Elsa and Olaf from the popular Disney animation "Frozen" stand in front of dessert cafe, A Twosome Place inside Daejeon University campus in Daejeon on Jan. 7. Screen capture from Instagram |
By Ko Dong-hwan
An unidentified man who knocked the head off a popular snowwoman built by a cafe manager in Daejeon has drawn ire nationwide over the antisocial act.
Caught on a closed-circuit security camera during the night of Jan. 8 when the city was blanketed with heavy snow, three men approached a snow sculpture of Elsa from Walt Disney's 2013 blockbuster animation film "Frozen" in front of A Twosome Place inside the Daejeon University campus in the city's Dong District. After observing the snow sculptures, two of them left.
The remaining man, however, using a mobile phone with his left hand, approaches closer to Elsa then, without hesitation, slapped the snowwoman's head using his right hand, instantly destroying the head.
The man then wasted no time in taking flight from the scene.
The cafe manager also made a snow sculpture of Olaf, another Frozen character, next to Elsa. They were built just a day before the snow sculpture destroyer was caught on security camera.
The manager expressed his bitterness following the incident on Instagram, saying "I guess my work was pretty good if it attracted the attack, or maybe the smile on her face somehow ticked him off. Nice slap, by the way."
He further asked the man to come by and face him directly and let would-be visitors know that the Elsa sculpture was no more. He added Olaf remained intact.
The incident has drawn much attention online from those saw the snow sculptures firsthand saying they were a "joy to look at" and condemning the man for destroying what were adored by many passers-by and cafe patrons.
"If Elsa had remained unharmed, it would have lasted as the cafe's mascot," a reply to the Twosome Place manager's Instagram post said, praising the quality of the snow sculptures.
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| K-pop artist Lee Juck was one of those sympathizing with the snow sculpture lovers, condemning the unidentified man who knocked the head off a snow sculpture in Daejeon. Courtesy of Naver NOW |
"The sight of him demolishing snowmen with such a pure joy and the smirk on his face gave the woman a chill," Lee's story read. It is unknown whether the story was based on a true one. But Lee's following comment stated that "if one can destroy a snowman, that violence can potentially lead to animal abuse, and then will eventually come back to that person."
Lee's Instagram post stoked some people online to debate whether extrapolating the Elsa incident into suspicions of the man having an innately violent nature was far-fetched.
Some of those in support of Lee said, "One's attitude to a thing or a person is interconnected," and, "A person's nature to acts of destruction and violence can easily switch targets, which makes the incident more than just a laughing matter."
Those on the other side said that questioning the man's potentially violent nature was an over-reaction. One Instagram user replied, "Haven't any of you guys destroyed a snowman before? Kids go about breaking them apart all the time."
