“The public is watching”: Satirical CCTV campaign turns its cameras on Jeju police
Translated from Korean and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.
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- Advertising expert Jeseok Lee staged a guerrilla public campaign near Jeju’s Hallym area and Jeju Western Police Station, using nonfunctional CCTV models.
- The campaign carried the messages “The public is watching” and “Greater power requires greater checks.”
- It referred to controversy over the alleged false closure of a missing-person case involving a woman later found dead after 104 days.
A public-service advertisement in Jeju has turned the logic of surveillance toward the police. The campaign shows a woman looking beyond a CCTV camera while citizens watch, alongside the message, “The public is watching.”
Advertising expert Jeseok Lee staged the guerrilla campaign around Hallym in Jeju City and near Jeju Western Police Station. Organisers also placed a model CCTV camera outside the station. The device could not record or film, and workers removed all of the models on the day they were installed.
The public is watching.
The campaign used a second message, “Greater power requires greater checks.” The Jeseok Lee Advertising Research Institute said the display reimagined CCTV, normally used to monitor citizens and prevent crime, as a symbol of public scrutiny of law enforcement.
Greater power requires greater checks. The public is watching.
The campaign addressed controversy surrounding a missing-person case involving a woman in her 30s, identified by her surname Jang. A police officer handling the case allegedly closed it falsely and deleted the missing-person information from the police system. During the investigation delay, nearby CCTV footage that could have shown her last movements expired and disappeared.
Jang was found dead in Jeju’s Hallym area 104 days after she was reported missing. The institute said the campaign targeted weaknesses in the system and questions of responsibility rather than any individual.
Rather than attacking a specific individual, we focused on satirising gaps in the system and questions of responsibility.
About this summary
Originally published by Dong-A Ilbo in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.
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