By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter
Seoul will set erect a statue of a seated King Sejong at Gwanghwamun Plaza to be completed in July.
King Sejong was the fourth king of the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910) and created Hangeul with a team of his scholars.
``We chose the seated statue because we're unfamiliar with the king standing. The pose of the king sitting is considered more dignified,'' a city official said. ``We will place the figure in front of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts because a statue right in the middle of Gwanghwamun might look like a gatekeeper.''
The Seoul Metropolitan Government recently decided on the plan based on suggestions from an advisory committee. The city will receive recommendations from sculptors from art communities and universities and hold an open competition to select the final size, shape and material for the statue and doesn't rule out the possibility of it not being completed by July in time for the opening of Gwanghwamun Plaza.
Sejong's statue, to be built on a large stone base, is expected to be similar in height and size to the nearby statue of a standing Admiral Yi Sun-shin.
Some proposed erecting a statue of Jeong Do-jeon, a politician in the early Joseon era who contributed to the founding of Seoul as the capital of Korea. Others insist on importing a statue of An Jung-geun, an independence fighter who assassinated Japan's first Prime Minister, Ito Hirobumi, in 1909, currently in Harbin, China. The Patriot Ahn Memorial Hall, which erected the statue of An, asked to bring the statue to Korea to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the incident.
However, the city expressed negative views. ``Too many statues close to each other might create a mess and the significance of each statue might be lost,'' an official said.
The metropolitan government will open an online discussion at the city Web site, www.seoul.go.kr, to collect public opinion on the statues, from Feb. 10 to March 15.