Kim Seong-hwan (8 October 1932 – 9 September 2019) was a South Korean artist and cartoonist, notable for having created and perpetuated the longest-running comic strip in Korea. Kim is also known by his pen name, which is ''Gobau'' ("strong rock"). The pseudonym dates from the summer of 1950 when he was trying to avoid getting into trouble with North Korea troops in Seoul.
War artist
In 1950, Kim was an 18-year-old student and a part-time magazine illustrator. When North Korean forces surged south, his drawings recorded the events which were happening around him.
[Salmon, Andrew]
"A Cartoonist at War: 'Gobau's' Korea, 1950,"
''The Asia-Pacific Journal,'' July 13, 2009. Kim sketched refugees and soldiers who were fleeing the onslaught of North Korean troops.
His artwork is a visual account of the lives of civilians swept up in the periphery of the
Korean War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Korean War
, partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict
, image = Korean War Montage 2.png
, image_size = 300px
, caption = Clockwise from top: ...
.
After Seoul was liberated in September 1950, Kim was employed as a
war artist by the South Korean Ministry of Defense.
Comic strip
Kim Seong-hwan worked for various publications during the Korean war;
[Comiclopedia]
Kim Seong-kwan
/ref> and his career flourished in the decades which followed.
Kim's most notable creation was the character "Gobau", who first appeared in ''Dong-A Ilbo
The ''Dong-A Ilbo'' (, literally ''East Asia Daily'') is a newspaper of record in Korea since 1920 with a daily circulation of more than 1.2 million and opinion leaders as its main readers. ''The Dong-A Ilbo'' is the parent company of Dong-A M ...
'' in 1955. This comic figure is old man with round eyes, big nose, mustache and with a single tuft of hair on top of his head. The adventures of this irrepressible and laconic old man appeared in 14,139 episodes across the span of 50 years. This became the longest-running Korean comic strip.Syngman Rhee
Syngman Rhee (, ; 26 March 1875 – 19 July 1965) was a South Korean politician who served as the first president of South Korea from 1948 to 1960.
Rhee was also the first and last president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Ko ...
's regime for a satirical comic he drew regarding the presidential Blue House
Cheong Wa Dae ( ko, 청와대; Hanja: ; ), also known as the Blue House, is a public park that formerly served as the executive office and official residence of the president of South Korea from 1948 to 2022. It is located in the Jongno distr ...
, showing people carrying buckets of manure out of the building. Afterwards, Rhee's second-in-command Lee Ki-poong
Lee Ki-poong (20 December 1896 – 28 April 1960) was a South Korean politician and Vice President. He was the Minister of National Defense (May 7, 1951 – March 29, 1952) and Mayor of Seoul (June 6, 1949 – May 7, 1951). He was the leader o ...
attempted to make peace with Kim, and requested that Kim draw Rhee's life story. However, Kim rejected that request.
See also
* War artist
Notes
References
* Salmon, Andrew
"A Cartoonist at War: 'Gobau's' Korea, 1950,"
''The Asia-Pacific Journal,'' July 13, 2009.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Seong-hwan
South Korean war artists
South Korean cartoonists
1932 births
2019 deaths
Prisoners and detainees of South Korea
South Korean manhwa artists
Kyungbock High School alumni