The Prague Post - Freddie Mercury to live forever in South Korea statue

EUR -
AED 4.235314
AFN 81.767894
ALL 98.477378
AMD 445.256684
ANG 2.063929
AOA 1057.554131
ARS 1344.143463
AUD 1.792525
AWG 2.075897
AZN 1.959973
BAM 1.966305
BBD 2.326831
BDT 140.942962
BGN 1.964168
BHD 0.435157
BIF 3431.979367
BMD 1.153276
BND 1.490482
BOB 7.991799
BRL 6.349709
BSD 1.152457
BTN 99.963336
BWP 15.58446
BYN 3.771397
BYR 22604.212918
BZD 2.314897
CAD 1.584142
CDF 3317.976147
CHF 0.93868
CLF 0.028503
CLP 1093.594356
CNY 8.290322
CNH 8.281843
COP 4717.418507
CRC 582.217967
CUC 1.153276
CUP 30.561818
CVE 110.857235
CZK 24.840413
DJF 205.219015
DKK 7.459529
DOP 68.445659
DZD 150.080422
EGP 58.473806
ERN 17.299143
ETB 155.20256
FJD 2.611075
FKP 0.856288
GBP 0.854762
GEL 3.136654
GGP 0.856288
GHS 11.869565
GIP 0.856288
GMD 82.457908
GNF 9984.339528
GTQ 8.866367
GYD 241.101175
HKD 9.053143
HNL 30.097792
HRK 7.53585
HTG 151.258069
HUF 403.923465
IDR 18995.669448
ILS 4.001673
IMP 0.856288
INR 99.870314
IQD 1509.665113
IRR 48581.758722
ISK 142.395325
JEP 0.856288
JMD 183.701391
JOD 0.817679
JPY 168.984364
KES 149.006907
KGS 100.812018
KHR 4619.740213
KMF 493.025822
KPW 1037.948608
KRW 1591.013882
KWD 0.35303
KYD 0.960343
KZT 601.923496
LAK 24861.139494
LBP 103256.97471
LKR 346.765539
LRD 230.484319
LSL 20.885376
LTL 3.405325
LVL 0.697606
LYD 6.275526
MAD 10.556697
MDL 19.79903
MGA 5123.437676
MKD 61.647473
MMK 2421.605996
MNT 4132.297182
MOP 9.318403
MRU 45.558387
MUR 52.773765
MVR 17.766188
MWK 1998.301555
MXN 22.089508
MYR 4.95332
MZN 73.763339
NAD 20.885376
NGN 1787.79751
NIO 42.406549
NOK 11.641614
NPR 159.941539
NZD 1.939568
OMR 0.443409
PAB 1.152371
PEN 4.149769
PGK 4.748367
PHP 66.132271
PKR 326.998164
PLN 4.278828
PYG 9198.139396
QAR 4.214214
RON 5.045701
RSD 117.216729
RUB 90.531457
RWF 1664.111861
SAR 4.327166
SBD 9.618818
SCR 16.345425
SDG 692.5162
SEK 11.125696
SGD 1.48486
SHP 0.906294
SLE 25.891466
SLL 24183.628858
SOS 658.627163
SRD 44.804379
STD 23870.488249
SVC 10.083871
SYP 14994.757305
SZL 20.879818
THB 37.790576
TJS 11.380144
TMT 4.036467
TND 3.417457
TOP 2.701091
TRY 45.818735
TTD 7.831943
TWD 34.231896
TZS 3108.079519
UAH 48.294505
UGX 4158.214509
USD 1.153276
UYU 47.111686
UZS 14401.939757
VES 118.276197
VND 30233.134778
VUV 138.285684
WST 3.181439
XAF 659.488777
XAG 0.031774
XAU 0.000341
XCD 3.116786
XDR 0.818829
XOF 659.480153
XPF 119.331742
YER 279.897083
ZAR 20.756087
ZMK 10380.871583
ZMW 26.776396
ZWL 371.354456
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

Freddie Mercury to live forever in South Korea statue
Freddie Mercury to live forever in South Korea statue / Photo: ANTHONY WALLACE - AFP

Freddie Mercury to live forever in South Korea statue

A die-hard Queen fan unveiled a life-size bronze statue of Freddie Mercury on Thursday on South Korea's resort island of Jeju, after an eight-year quest to honour his late hero.

Text size:

The music of British rock band Queen is popular in South Korea, a country more associated with home-grown K-pop dance bands, including global megastars BTS.

Jeju businessman and Queen superfan Baek Soon-yeob, 57, used to listen to bootleg recordings of Freddie Mercury -- who died of AIDS-related complications in 1991.

Queen's music was banned in South Korea in the 1970s by then-military dictator Park Chung-hee's regime, which considered it "unsuitable" in an era when men were also barred from growing their hair.

Mercury's songs "kept me going despite many hurdles along the way", Baek told AFP, adding it had been an emotional eight-year effort to build the statue.

"I started emailing Queen's company in 2014 asking for a rights approval" to erect the statue, Baek told AFP.

He wrote an email every month but did not get a reply for seven years.

In early 2020, he finally received a response ahead of Queen's first ever South Korean concert -- band members and label officials were prepared to meet him in Seoul.

That concert was a result of South Korea's recent fervent embrace of Queen, after nearly 10 million people watched the 2018 Oscar-winning biopic "Bohemian Rhapsody" starring Rami Malek.

In a country of 51 million people, that means approximately a fifth of the population watched the movie in cinemas, where it grossed $70 million and sat atop box office lists for weeks.

After receiving approval in 2020, Baek spent 50 million won ($40,000) commissioning the 177-centimetre statue of Mercury clenching his fist, which was finally unveiled Thursday on the scenic Jeju coast.

- Freddie censored -

It is the second statue of the late singer approved by Queen's label -- the first is in Montreux, Switzerland, where Mercury lived and recorded Queen albums.

Despite Queen's popularity in South Korea, Baek faced protests over his project, with some people complaining about him erecting a "statue of a homosexual".

Although the 2018 biopic was not censored in cinemas, local TV station SBS was in hot water last year when it deleted a scene in which actor Malek kisses a man.

Baek said he hoped the statue would help "make those critical of sexual minorities reconsider their perceptions".

South Korean Queen fans made a pilgrimage to Jeju Island to attend the Thursday event.

"I am very honoured to be here today to mark the unveiling of the world's second statue of Freddie," said Kim Pan-jun, who runs a Queen-themed bar in Seoul.

"I am sure Freddie is giving his blessing from up there in heaven."

Queen guitarist Brian May, clutching a model of the statue Baek had sent him, told fans via video message that he was with them "in spirit" on Jeju, and that Mercury would like the tribute.

"I know he would be happy with it," he said.

I.Mala--TPP