Statues of controversial strongman leaders stake claim to public spaces, history narratives

Police surround a statue of Park Chung-hee in front of Dongdaegu Station in Daegu, April 5, during a rally to observe the 50th anniversary of the 2nd People’s Revolutionary Party Incident from 1975. The Park regime arrested 1,024 people without warrant on suspicion of belonging to a communist group, and executed eight of the suspects, who were posthumously acquitted in 2007. Courtesy of Korean Confederation of Trade Unions Daegu branch

Representations of Korea’s authoritarian legacy have been reemerging steadily in public spaces since 2023, with a noticeable uptick in installations in recent months. Statues of former presidents Park Chung-hee and Syngman Rhee, figures associated with rapid modernization and anti-communist state-building — but also notorious for their poor human rights records and anti-democratic policies — have been erected across the country, often with minimal public input.

More than mere monuments, these new statues stand as instruments of memory politics, staking claim to public spaces and both national and regional narratives.

A statue of Park Chung-hee stands at Yeungnam University in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang Province, May 2. Courtesy of Jack Greenberg

Civic groups have pushed back, criticizing the glorification of leaders with contested legacies and the lack of transparency in the decision-making process. But there has been relatively little protest from the political mainstream. While some National Assembly members have criticized the statues’ construction, the staunchly conservative politics of the Daegu-North Gyeongsang Province region make it difficult to change the course pursued by local officeholders.

The effort to rehabilitate these figures, particularly Park, extends beyond local boundaries, with proposals for statues in downtown Seoul and outside the Korean Embassy in Washington. Both moves reflect attempts to shape their legacies on national and international stages.

This trend also contrasts sharply with developments elsewhere in East Asia. In Taiwan, statues of Chiang Kai-shek, a similarly polarizing figure, have been dismantled and relocated as part of a reevaluation of the island's authoritarian history. Korea, by contrast, appears to be doubling back.

Authoritarian icons return to Daegu

North Gyeongbok Province has emerged as the epicenter of this revival. In April 2024, then-Daegu mayor Hong Joon-pyo pushed through an ordinance to erect a statue of Park in front of Dongdaegu Station. Yonhap reported at the time that a supplementary budget of 1.45 billion won was allocated to fund this statue and another proposed one at a time the city was facing a financial shortage.

The statue was approved through a public consultation process limited to written submissions, with little transparency — 889 objections and calls for a public hearing during the legislative notice period were disregarded.

A statue of Park Chung-hee stands at Dongdaegu Station Plaza in Daegu, May 1. Courtesy of Jack Greenberg

Four months later, in August 2024, the city installed a sign renaming Dongdaegu Station Plaza — a major transit gateway for the city — as “Park Chung-hee Plaza,” formalizing the space’s symbolic association with the former president. Officials cited the spirit of industrialization under Park as the rationale for the tribute. However, the installation was complicated by the fact that the plaza was, at the time, still under the ownership of KORAIL, raising questions about jurisdiction and transparency.

Beyond administrative concerns, the rebranding also signaled a move away from commemorating local democratic and civic movements — such as the February 28 Student Movement of 1960 or the National Debt Redemption Movement of 1907 to 1908, both central to Daegu’s modern history — in favor of emphasizing a more centralized and developmentalist vision of the past.

Later the same year, during the National Assembly's audit of regional governments, North Gyeongsang Province Gov. Lee Cheol-woo was questioned about plans to erect a 10-meter-tall statue of Park in front of the provincial government complex in Andong. Legislators raised concerns about the project’s budget and its political motivations.

“I believe that people have both achievements and faults, so we should evaluate their contributions fairly," Lee responded. "I feel that our country is too stingy when it comes to acknowledging merit.”

A statue of Park Chung-hee stands in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province, Jan. 29, 2022. Courtesy of Jack Greenberg

The remarks reflect the ongoing debate over how to assess historical figures, especially those associated with human rights abuses. For critics, celebrating such figures through public monuments is contentious, raising difficult questions about how to balance achievements against the darker aspects of their legacies.

By December 2024, three new statues honoring Park — in Daegu, Andong and Gyeongsan — had been completed, adding to existing monuments in places like Gyeongju, Gumi and Cheongdo. The Yeungnam statue, funded by a Korean American alum of Yeongnam University, sparked protests from current students and other members of the community when it was placed on campus.

Controversy also surrounded the Dongdaegu Station Plaza statue, which was repeatedly vandalized amid protests and political tensions relating to former President Yoon Seok Yeol’s Dec. 3 martial law declaration. In response, the city stationed civil servants nearby to “guard” the statue. Today, signs in front of the statue warn that the site is under surveillance and that vandals will be punished.

A sign warns of surveillance to protect a statue of Park Chung-hee from vandalism in front of Dongdaegu Station in Daegu, May 2. Courtesy of Jack Greenberg

Plans for a second statue in Daegu, this time outside one of the city’s libraries, have faced backlash. Civic groups, academics and residents have mobilized to oppose the project, collecting almost 14,000 signatures. A repeal ordinance to cancel the installation is set to be examined as early as June. While the council must review the repeal petition due to the sufficient number of signatures, the conservative balance of power makes the repeal uncertain.

A bunker becomes a shrine

An entrance leads into the bunker where Park Chung-hee plotted his coup in 1961, now open to the public in southwestern Seoul's Mullae Park, May 7. Courtesy of Jack Greenberg

A bronze bust of Park stands in a small park in Seoul, adjacent to the subterranean bunker where Park plotted the May 16, 1961 coup that brought him to power.

While the statue has long been a source of controversy, The Korea Times learned that Yeongdeungpo District recently handed over management of the site to pro-Park civic groups: the President Park Chung Hee Bust Preservation Society and the 5.16 National Salvation Revolutionary Mind Inheritance Association.

A man in a red "Make America Great Again" hat welcomes visitors to the bunker where Park Chung-hee plotted his coup in 1961, now open to the public in southwestern Seoul's Mullae Park, May 7. Courtesy of Jack Greenberg

According to site manager Jeong Yeong-seok, the bunker opened to the general public last year and now hosts an annual ceremony to honor “the spirit of the May 16 revolution.” Jeong emphasized the site’s symbolic importance, noting it was “here that Major General Park Chung-hee launched the revolution” and that the bust and command bunker have been preserved as historical sites.

A bust of Park Chung-hee is on display in southwestern Seoul's Mullae Park, May 7. Courtesy of Jack Greenberg

The conversion into a shrine-like space under the stewardship of Park loyalists illustrates how contested sites are being used to create a conservative vision of the past, raising concerns not only about the selective memorialization, but about who gets to tell the story of Korea’s authoritarian past.

Rhee revival

Alongside Park's reemergence, there has been a rehabilitation of Rhee, Korea’s first president. Rhee was ultimately deposed by a popular democratic uprising. His statues were toppled, destroyed, taken into storage or lost — symbols of an authoritarian regime that fell in the wake of public opposition.

A statue of Syngman Rhee is on display in front of the Appenzeller Noble Memorial Museum in central Seoul, May 7. Courtesy of Jack Greenberg

Recently, however, Rhee’s image has begun returning to public spaces. One statue was unveiled in front of Seoul’s Appenzeller Noble Memorial Museum on March 26 to mark the 150th anniversary of Rhee’s birth.

Cho Bo-hyeong, the chairman of the Paichai School Corporation, praised Rhee as "a great man who founded the Republic of Korea, gave us a free democratic nation and saved the country from the communist bloc."

On July 27, 2023, another statue was installed in Chilgok, North Gyeongsang Province, at the Battle of Dabu-ri Memorial, alongside a statue of U.S. President Harry Truman and Gen. Paik Sun-yop. These statues, originally intended for the War Memorial of Korea in Seoul, celebrate shared U.S.-South Korean sacrifices during the Korean War. Like the sculpture of Park at Yeungnam University, they were produced by Hongik University professor Kim Young-won, best known for creating Gwanghwamun’s statue of King Sejong.

Statues of U.S. President Harry Truman and Syngman Rhee, Korea's first president, are on display in Chilgok, North Gyeongsang Province, May 3. Courtesy of Jack Greenberg

Like Park, Rhee’s legacy is subject to a conservative effort to reshape South Korea’s foundational narrative, emphasizing nation-building and strong leadership over the struggles for democracy.

Monuments as memory politics

At their core, these statues are about the power to shape public memory, to designate heroes and to decide who gets remembered and how.

A proposal by Kim Moon-soo, the conservative presidential candidate who lost to Lee Jae-myung, to erect statues of Park and Rhee in Gwanghwamun Square is particularly revealing. It’s a bid not only to honor these former presidents, but to legitimize a narrative of strongman rule.

Kim stirred additional controversy by posting pictures of himself with the statue of Park in Andong to Facebook in April. Many comments were critical of the statue, which drew comparisons to public art in North Korea, while also mocking Kim, comparing him to North Koreans bowing before statues of the two Kims.

Public backlash signals that this is far from a settled issue. In Daegu, Kim Chae-won, a local bookstore owner, hung a banner denouncing the Dongdaegu Station Park statue.

Reflecting on Park’s legacy, she remarked, “Park Chung-hee was the most anti-democratic figure in Korea. He came to power through a coup d’etat and maintained an 18-year dictatorship by sacrificing far too many citizens.”

A bookstore displays a banner opposing the installation of a statue of Park Chung-hee in Daegu, May 1. Courtesy of Jack Greenberg

She also noted the irony in celebrating Park’s economic growth: “Behind Park Chung-hee’s economic growth were the shadows of many tragic workers who suffered under poor labor conditions ... It was thanks to those workers’ efforts and the diligence of countless citizens who tried to rebuild the country after the war that economic growth was achieved.”

“To erect and idolize a dictator’s statue in such a public place is truly regressive and a step backward in history,” she said.

Despite facing some criticism, Kim shared that she received more support than opposition. “Young people say, ‘Even if we want to speak out, we can’t — thank you for expressing it on our behalf.’”

Jack Greenberg works as a consultant, researcher and freelance writer. His current focus is on heritage and conservation issues, historical memory debates, truth-seeking and reconciliation and civilian massacres of the 1950-53 Korean War. He was the recipient of the Global Korea Scholarship and earned a master's in international studies at Korea University. He is also an alum of McGill University in Canada.