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A city worker hoses down the statue of King Sejong the Great that sits in Gwanghwamun Square in downtown Seoul on July 18. (pool photo)

On Monday, Seoul Metropolitan City began a 12-day cleaning of statues of King Sejong the Great and Admiral Yi Sun-shin on Gwanghwamun Square in the city center.

Traditionally, the city has cleaned the statues with pressure washers every April, but it has been unable to do so since April 2020 due to ongoing construction work taking place on the square.

With the recent completion of the construction, it resumed its first cleaning of the statues in 27 months ahead of the renovated square’s reopening on Aug. 6, the city explained.

A city worker hoses down the statue of King Sejong the Great that sits in Gwanghwamun Square in downtown Seoul on July 18. (pool photo)

Notably, the latest effort includes not only cleaning with water jets from pressure washers, but also the use of alkaline cleaning agents and special protective agents to scrub the statues all the way down to their bases.

Based on the opinions of the artists who made the statues, the decision was made to use alkaline cleaning agents to preserve their rust while removing contaminants. For the bases, both acidic and alkaline cleaning agents are being used to remove contaminants, after which they are to be finished with a special protective agent.

The cleaning of the statues and their bases will continue from July 18 to 25, with the application of special protective agents to the bases taking place from July 26 to 29. These photographs show some images from the process.

A city worker hoses down the statue of King Sejong the Great that sits in Gwanghwamun Square in downtown Seoul on July 18. (pool photo)

A city worker hoses down the statue of King Sejong the Great that sits in Gwanghwamun Square in downtown Seoul on July 18. (pool photo)

By Kim Gyoung-ho, senior staff writer

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