''Greetingman'' ( ko, 그리팅맨) is a modern sculpture project in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. Its main artist is

Yoo Young-ho Yoo Young-ho ( ko, 유영호, born 1965) is a South Korean sculptor. Career He graduated in 1991 from the College of Fine Arts, Seoul National University. Later he studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in Germany. One of his sculptures is ...

(South Korean sculptor). The concept provides a man, 6 meters high,

bowing Bowing (also called stooping) is the act of lowering the torso and head as a social gesture in direction to another person or symbol. It is most prominent in Asian cultures but it is also typical of nobility and aristocracy in many European c ...

in a typically Asian greeting gesture. The blue color means lack of

prejudice Prejudice can be an affective feeling towards a person based on their perceived group membership. The word is often used to refer to a preconceived (usually unfavourable) evaluation or classification of another person based on that person's per ...

. In October 2012, a statue was unveiled in the neighbourhood of Buceo,

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

, with South Korea being the antipode of Uruguay, the statues represent two men greeting each other from opposites sides of the world, however, this was the first of a planned world series in multiple locations. The second statue was unveiled in October 2013 in

, near the

Korean Demilitarized Zone The Korean Demilitarized Zone (Korean: ; Hanbando Bimujang Jidae) is a strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula near the 38th parallel north. The demilitarized zone (DMZ) is a border barrier that divides the peninsula roughly in ha ...

, in Haean,

Yanggu County, Gangwon Yanggu County (''Yanggu-gun'') is a county in Gangwon Province, South Korea. The northern part of Yanggu County was part of the front line for much of the Korean War, and now borders the Demilitarized Zone. Several Korean War battle sites are lo ...

. A third statue was unveiled in January 2016 in

Panama City, Panama Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...

, the second to be unveiled in Latin America. Another statue was built in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico on March 17, 2021. It commemorates the large Korean community that was started by the first wave in 1905 of henequen laborers.

References

Outdoor sculptures in South Korea Arts in South Korea Buceo South Korea–Uruguay relations Korean Demilitarized Zone Panama–South Korea relations {{sculpture-stub

See also

References