From North Korea Propaganda to Art Exhibit in Seoul, Defector Song Byeok Shows His Work

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (AP) —.- The face in the painting is North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s, smiling beneath his trademark sunglasses and wall of black hair. But the body is Marilyn Monroe’s, pushing down her white dress in an updraft. This striking image, part of an art exhibition by North Korean defector Song Byeok opening Wednesday in Seoul, would have been unthinkable at the artist’s old job making propaganda posters in the North with slogans like “Let us Exalt the Great Leader.” Satirical paintings would have gotten everyone in his family “taken somewhere nobody knows about and forced to work until death,” Song said during an interview at his small workspace in an arcade on the outskirts of Seoul. “Freedom of speech has nothing to do with North Korea,” Song said. “Here in South Korea, people can draw what they want. So every painting reflects

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