Vandal behind copycat scribbling on Gyeongbok Palace walls turns himself in

The Cultural Heritage Administration carries out restoration work on the damaged walls of the Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul, Dec. 17. Yonhap

The suspect behind the new scribbling on an outer wall of Gyeongbok Palace in central Seoul turned himself in Monday, a day after damaging the wall with red spray paint in a suspected copycat crime following a similar scribbling a day earlier.

The man in his 20s voluntarily surrendered to the Seoul Jongno Police Station at 11:45 a.m. and police officials are questioning him about the crime, including whether there was an accomplice.

Police began an investigation after receiving a report Sunday night about the new scribbling, 3 meters in length and 1.8 meters in height, in which the names of a singer and an album were sprayed in red, officials said.

It was found on the left wall of the western gate to the main palace during the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), where restoration work is under way by the Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) on the damaged parts from Saturday's vandalism.

The new scribbling came a day after an unidentified person wrote a phrase spanning 44 meters and promoting "free movie" with red and blue spray paint on both sides of the western gate to the palace and palace walls near the National Palace Museum of Korea.

Also sprayed were the names of illegal video-sharing and streaming platforms, with similar graffiti found on the walls of the nearby Seoul Metropolitan Agency.

The vandals are known to have carefully dodged the many surveillance cameras nearby, making it harder to detect them, according to the officials.

The CHA said the restoration will now take longer than a week.

A team of around 20 experts from the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and the National Palace Museum of Korea has been working to restore the damage since Saturday, using specialized equipment and chemicals, including steam cleaner and laser technology.

"However, the restoration process, initially estimated to take at least a week, will now need to be extended due to the additional damage," the CHA said in a press release.

The CHA plans to bolster security by installing 20 additional cameras outside the walls of the palace.

Currently, there are 415 cameras positioned at 200 locations within the palace and 14 at nine locations outside, according to the authority. (Yonhap)