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Statue of a Russian poet to be built in Seoul

Posted November. 08, 2013 06:46,   

한국어

A statue of 19th century Russian poet Alexander Pushkin will be built in downtown Seoul.

The Secretariat of the Korea-Russia Dialogue, a non-government organization for exchanges between the two countries, said Thursday that it would build Pushkin’s statue in front of Lotte Hotel in downtown Seoul as part of private-sector exchanges. The statue has been set up and the opening ceremony will take place on next Wednesday. Russian President Vladimir Putin who will visit Korea on Tuesday is scheduled to attend the ceremony. A source at the secretariat said, “It is the first statue of a Russian artist in Korea, to be more specific, in downtown Seoul.”

As a respected poet by Russian people, Pushkin has his namesake square, street, and theater in the Russian capital city of Moscow. His signature poem “If life deceives you” is also well known in Korea.

The idea of building the statue was first proposed by the Russian Association of Proletarian Writers in June 2012. The association sent a message to Korea University that it would send a statue of Pushkin, and Korea University developed the idea to build a statue in downtown Seoul where the public can see instead of the campus.

It was not without challenges, however. The statue was made in Russia and transported to Korea in July this year. But the place to set it up was a problem. After reviewing applicable laws, the Seoul Metropolitan Government concluded that it was impossible to build a foreign author’s statue unrelated to Korean history in a public space. In response, the Korea-Russia Dialogue Secretariat sought after a private lot and Lotte Hotel decided to offer space.

“We plan to take this opportunity, Pushkin’s statue, to develop many other ways to promote exchanges between Korea and Russia,” the secretariat said, adding, “The third Korea-Russia Dialogue forum, which happen to take place during President Putin’s visit to Korea, will discuss creating a Korea-Russia Cultural Park in Seoul and Moscow.”