Marilyn Monroe, Gangwon's controversial new tourist attraction

By Jung Min-ho

The statue of Marilyn Monroe in Inje County, Gangwon Province / Wonju Construction and Management Administration

A Marilyn Monroe statue may be the last thing you would expect to come across in Inje, a sleepy little county in Gangwon Province.

But surprisingly, she can be found at a memorial, standing before the 16 flags of the U.N. member countries that fought in the Korean War.

According to the Wonju Construction and Management Administration (WCMA) Thursday, it created the statue and set it up by Soyang River as part of its project to attract tourists.

The organization under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said it made the decision based on the fact the actress visited the town in 1954 to perform for soldiers at a U.S. military base there.

The cost of the statue was 55 million won ($52,000), the WCMA noted.

Over the last few weeks, photos of the statue have been widely shared on social media, drawing attention and stirring controversy.

Hwang Pyeong-woo, head of the Korea Cultural Heritage Policy Research Institute, criticized the WCMA for wasting the money.

“Monroe did not visit Inje. She went there only to visit a U.S. military base … WCMA officials seem to have no idea what they did,” he wrote on Facebook. “The statue does not go along with the surrounding nature. It is meaningless to put it there.”

During her visit, Monroe put on appearances in many other cities, including Seoul, Daegu and Dongducheon, but Inje is the only place where there is a statue of her.

The statue was part of the project to clean up the environment and build sports facilities on the riverside in an effort to attract more visitors with the statue of the starlet depicting her trying to keep her skirt from blowing up, a scene from the 1955 movie “The Seven-Year Itch.”

Opinions on the statue are largely unfavorable. Many say the WCMA should have asked experts first, saying it wasted taxpayer money making the statue that in no way relates to Inje.

The WCMA and Inje County Office, which gave the statue idea to the WCMA, disagree. A WCMA official said opinions on the statue could vary depending on perspectives, and it may help the town become more famous to tourists.