A high school student's prize-winning cartoon has drawn the ire of the South Korean government for being critical of President Yoon Suk-yeol and his wife, even as critics accused the administration of suppressing freedom of expression, said reports.
The Culture Ministry reportedly said it would "look into how the work was selected for the top prize in a recent contest."
The cartoon shows a train with Yoon’s face blowing smoke as it races along its track. In the engineer’s seat is a woman who appears to be first lady Kim Keon-hee, followed by a car full of what appear to be prosecutors brandishing swords, states an Editorial in The Hankyoreh.
According to The Korea Herald, titled “Yoon Suk-yeol-cha,” the cartoon by a high school student won the gold prize at this year’s National Student Comics Contest, part of the 25th Bucheon International Comics Festival that came to an end on Monday. The cartoon, whose title is a combination of the name of South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and “yeolcha,” a Korean word meaning train, was on display at the Korea Manhwa Museum during the BICOF, along with other winning works.
The satirical drawing depicts Yoon in the form of Thomas (the well-known British comic book character Thomas the Tank Engine, an anthropomorphic blue steam locomotive in the children’s television series “Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends,” ), his wife Kim Keon-hee as a train driver and people running away from the train, the report said.
The cartoon went viral when an anonymous person uploaded the image on a local online community site, The Korea Herald report added.