Editorial cartooning International

Cartoonist sued by government for “abusive words”

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Alan Gardner July 1, 2009 1 minute 0 comments

A Korean cartoonist identified only as “Choi” has been sued by Wonju city for the sum of $100,000 for inserting abusive words about President Lee into a cartoon.

In the cartoon, which is supposed to be in honor of Korean Vietnam War veterans, a couple of people bow in front of a monument, but behind them stand two statues with “Lee Myung-bak should die,” and “Lee Myung-bak son of a b****” written on their torsos. The words had been subtly hidden in the form of patterns.

The cartoon somehow passed censorship checks and the magazine was released to the public. The city government later had to recall and discard all copies of the edition.