By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter
The Seoul Metropolitan Government has decided to build a statue of King Sejong, the fourth king of the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910), next to that of Admiral Yi Sun-sin (1545-1598) in central Seoul's Gwanghwamun Plaza.
Its temporary decision to add another historical figure to the plaza came after a months-long survey of citizens and experts.
The statute of Admiral Yi, the heroic naval commander who crushed the Japanese navy in the late 16th century, has been the landmark of Sejong-ro (Sejong Street). But since the street is Sejong-ro and the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts is also located on the street, there have long been calls for the replacement of Yi's statue with King Sejong's.
King Sejong, or Sejong the Great, is best remembered for creating the Korean alphabet ``hangeul'' and also contributed greatly to the fields of politics, economics, culture and education during the early period of the Joseon Kingdom.
The city government previously planned to relocate King Sejong's statue, currently at Deoksu Palace hundreds of meters away, to the plaza in 2007, but shelved the plan due to strong opposition from interest groups.
In the latest survey of 1,174 citizens, 62.8 percent or 737 favored having both King Sejong's statue and Admiral Yi's on the plaza. Another 24.3 percent voted for only Admiral Yi, and the remainder for King Sejong.
``That's why we've decided to add King Sejong's statute,'' a city official said. ``However, we have yet to decide whether we will build a new statue or not.''
King Sejong's statute in Deoksu Palace is 6.7-meter-high and a seated figure, which is small compared to the 18.5-meter-tall standing statue of Admiral Yi. Consequently, people might not able to see the smaller statue of King Sejong behind that of Admiral Yi. The king's statue will stand about 200 meters to the side of the latter.
However, the credibility of the survey could be called into question as the city's previous survey of 15,140 citizens in September showed that the largest portion, 36.6 percent, favored Admiral Yi's statue only, with only 34.3 percent in favor of both.
But building a new one is expected to be difficult in the face of city budget constraints. ``It is expected to cost about 3 billion won to build a new statue the size of Admiral Yi's,'' the city official said.
The city will establish an ad hoc committee and consult with experts in the formation of final plans.
Under the city's Gwanghwamun Plaza project, the 550-meter-long and 34-meter-wide plaza will be built by July in the middle of Sejong-ro, reducing the number of car lanes in the downtown area and connecting the Gyeongbok Palace and the restored Cheonggye Stream, representing a link between the past and the present.