High-school students continue to express cleverness and wit in satirical graduation photos

Posted on : 2018-07-17 17:15 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Conservative groups have started suing schools for “defamation”
Third-year students at Uijeongbu High School in Gyeonggi Province in a photo shoot for their graduation photos on July 16. (Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education YouTube channel)
Third-year students at Uijeongbu High School in Gyeonggi Province in a photo shoot for their graduation photos on July 16. (Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education YouTube channel)

The latest graduation photos by third-year students at Uijeongbu High School in Gyeonggi Province, who have drawn notice in the past for their clever parodies and amusing costumes, include a recreation of events this year at the Military Demarcation Line (MDL).

Aired on the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education program “Real School” on July 16, images from the shooting of the graduation photographs showed students carrying on the tradition of topical satire, including a recreation of President Moon Jae-in and North Korean Kim Jong-un crossing the MDL hand-in-hand at their inter-Korean summit and Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong applying lip balm during a 2016 National Assembly hearing on the government influence-peddling scandal. Also making appearances were skeleton racer Yun Sung-bin – a gold medalist at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics – and characters from games, TV series, commercials, and films.

Even amid their busy preparations for this year’s university entrance examination, the third-year students spent days at a time applying their makeup – and making memories with their friends.

“I stayed up for two nights in a row making the hammer my character carries,” said a student dressed as a character from the mobile game Clash of Clans.

Two students of Uijeongbu High School in Gyeonggi Province do a parody of the inter-Korean summit where South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un crossed the military demarcation line (MDL) together. (Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education YouTube channel)
Two students of Uijeongbu High School in Gyeonggi Province do a parody of the inter-Korean summit where South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un crossed the military demarcation line (MDL) together. (Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education YouTube channel)

Another student dressed in a parody of another game character explained, “I underwent the first strength training in my life to show my upper body for this.”

Since 2009, Uijeongbu High’s graduation photos have drawn attention for their witty ideas and costumes. Earning notice online, they have established themselves as a school tradition. Their trenchant topical satire – as seen with their costumes representing the President and politicians – has been described as “better than a lot of political cartoons.”

But after the satirical photographs’ publication, some teachers and students have faced police investigations and other hassles after conservative groups complained of “defamation.” Last year’s graduation pictures showed no sign of political satire, despite a number of major issues with the impeachment and presidential election. For this year, the school asked students to submit their concepts in advance; after a meeting last week between the student council and the school’s faculty and staff, students were barred from tackling topics judged excessively provocative. At the same time, the set for photographing the graduation album was shown for the first time ever on the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education television network.

“We seem to have a lot of fans, and we’ve been describing as changing society and culture by expressing political and social events in a humorous way,” said student council president Kim Ye-seong, 18.

“There’s also been a very positive response from students, some of whom start thinking about what they’re going to do for the graduation pictures from the moment they enroll,” he noted.

“But because we have to reflect the trends, we don’t have a lot of time before the date of the shoot, so the decision on what to photograph is made through a meeting,” he added.

Images from the filming of Uijeongbu High’s graduation photographs can be viewed on the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education YouTube channel and Facebook page.

By Park Kyung-nam, North Gyeonggi correspondent

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