After Tossing Cigarette Butts and Even Pooping... Gwanghwamun's King Finally 'Scowls'

Lee Jeseok Creates Anti-Smoking Signs to Protect Cultural Heritage
"To Donate Them Free of Charge to the Korea Heritage Service and Others; Design Files Also Available for Free"

Lee Jeseok, head of the Lee Jeseok Advertising Research Institute, created unusual anti-smoking signs as part of a guerrilla-style campaign in the Gwanghwamun area of Seoul.

Provided by Lee Jeseok Advertising Research Institute

On October 27, the institute said it had recently put up signs on structures around Gwanghwamun and then removed them. The signs showed a king and queen covering their noses to avoid cigarette smoke, and were intended to highlight to tourists the importance of protecting cultural heritage.

The signs featured a Joseon-era king and queen, civil officials and royal guards looking displeased by cigarette smoke. Using familiar traffic-safety sign designs, including a circular prohibition sign, a triangular warning sign and an octagonal stop sign, the signs carried messages such as "Smoking is destruction" and "If you respect me, I will respect you," in Chinese, English and other languages.

The institute plans to donate the sign designs free of charge to relevant organizations, including the Korea Heritage Service. Members of the public and public institutions can also download the design files for free from the institute's website and use them for public-interest purposes.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, Seoul welcomed about 14.85 million foreign tourists last year, a record high. Meanwhile, about 2.78 million foreign visitors went to Gyeongbokgung Palace, up 37.3% from the previous year.

Some visitors have reportedly undermined other visitors' experiences and burdened the environment around cultural heritage sites by violating basic rules, including smoking without authorization, littering cigarette butts and other trash, and relieving themselves in public.

"Cultural heritage is a treasure that holds a country's history and spirit before it is a tourist attraction," Lee said. "I wanted to convey the message by having the ancestors who once lived here express their displeasure directly."

Lee, meanwhile, was the real-life inspiration for the KBS drama "Advertising Genius Lee Tae-baek." He has won awards at major international competitions, including the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in France, the world's most prestigious advertising festival, and the New York One Show Festival, becoming the first Korean to win at these events. Since establishing an advertising research institute in Korea in 2009, he has worked on more than 500 public-interest projects with government agencies and civic groups in Korea and abroad.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.