'The mine took his leg. Politics is holding him back': Lee Je-seok's guerrilla ads skewer DMZ landmine politicking

A privately produced advertisement has appeared criticizing the political bickering that has drowned out discussions of soldier safety and prevention measures in the wake of a North Korean landmine explosion in the Demilitarized Zone. The billboard reads: "The mine took his leg. Politics is holding him back."

On Monday, public service advertising specialist Lee Je-seok released a video on his YouTube channel "Lee Je-seok's Ad Archive" documenting the creation and installation of the billboard, set against a backdrop of statements made by ruling and opposition party lawmakers about the landmine explosion.

In subtitles accompanying the video, Lee said he made the ad "to capture the frustration and despair felt by the military and to call out the current situation."

The roughly two-meter-tall billboard depicts a soldier in uniform barely standing on one leg, the other badly wounded.

On Saturday and Sunday, Lee erected the billboards in military border areas around Gimpo and Paju in Gyeonggi Province, as well as near Yongsan Park in Seoul, where the Ministry of National Defense is visible, and documented them in photographs.

The video's subtitles read: "This is what South Korea looks like right now. Left foot, right foot — we need to move in step, but the National Assembly is walking out of rhythm. Soldiers are not the only ones limping."

Lee also wrote: "The essence of the incident has vanished entirely, and everyone is busy blaming others, covering things up, tearing each other down and fighting."

According to Yonhap, Lee explained the thinking behind the ad, saying it "started from a sense of concern about the reality that, even as our soldiers suffered serious injuries from an external military threat, political disputes over responsibility and intensifying factional conflict are dominating the domestic conversation."

Lee said the image of a soldier on one leg carried a double meaning — "the actual physical injury of the soldier wounded in the landmine explosion, and the security reality of a South Korea unable to move forward in balance due to political confrontation." The ad was conceived together with former career military personnel who shared the view that a clear chain of command is essential.

Lee said the billboards were "test samples" and that he plans to rework them to raise awareness of the dangers of landmine casualties.