Anna Jiwon Park has been covering the politics at The Korea Times since the summer of 2024, when she joined the press pool for the Office of the President in Korea. Prior to that, she spent about five years reporting extensively on financial markets, regulatory authorities and the financial industry. She joined The Korea Times in 2019 after spending eight years as a broadcast journalist at Arirang TV, Korea’s leading global broadcaster, covering politics, defense and culture.
Iranian Embassy in Seoul displays banner condemning US-Israel airstrikes
A police officer stands in front of the Embassy of Iran in Dongbinggo-dong, Yongsan District, Seoul, March 5. Yonhap
By Anna J. Park
The Iranian Embassy in Seoul has hung a large banner on the exterior wall of its building in Yongsan district featuring a portrait of former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in recent airstrikes carried out by the United States and Israel.
Khamenei, who ruled Iran as its supreme leader for 37 years, died in the joint strikes. The banner also includes the phrase, “When will the world hold war criminals accountable?” along with images of deceased children and women set against the backdrop of Iranian territory.
Next to the images appears the message: “The massacre of women and children is neither forgivable nor forgettable.”
A banner displayed on the exterior wall of the Iranian Embassy in Seoul / Yonhap
The display appears to accuse the United States and Israel of committing war crimes, and is interpreted as a protest against an airstrike on an Iranian elementary school that reportedly left at least 175 people dead.
The Iranian Embassy is believed to have installed the banner as part of its condemnation of the United States and Israel.
South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to comment in detail on the matter, stating only that it was “difficult to confirm related details.”