Jeju Island now has a statue of the late Freddie Mercury, who gained global fame for his Queen album.
Freddie Mercury will live forever in South Korea with a life-size statue of him unveiled in Jeju Island.
Standing 1.77m in height and costing roughly $40,000, the statue was revealed on Thursday. Another statue of his is now in Montreux, Switzerland.
After a relentless eight-year campaign, a South Korean businessman fan of Queen has finally realized his dream: a life-size statue of Freddie Mercury, the singer of the group, on the tourist island of Jeju.
It was only until recently, with the popularity of Bohemian Rhapsody in South Korea and the Queen’s first concert in the country in 2020, that Baek Soon-yeob was able to sit down and discuss his idea with the band.
As a teenager, Soon-yeob, 57,from Jeju — and a stalwart of the British rock band — used to listen to bootleg copies of the music of Freddie Mercury, the Queen singer who died in 1991. from complications of AIDS.
Queen’s music was banned in 1970s South Korea, where military dictator Park Chung-hee’s regime also prohibited men from growing their hair long.
Along with Soon-yeob, the late singer’s fans had an uphill battle as the Korean society which considers homosexuality as taboo..
Some Queen fans travelled to Jeju to attend the unveiling. The band's guitarist Brian May assured them in a video message that he was with them "in spirit," and that Freddie Mercury would have appreciated the tribute.
"I'm sure Freddie is giving us his blessing from up there in heaven," said one fan, Kim Pan-jun, owner of a Queen-themed bar in Seoul.
Tags: #SouthKorea, #entertainment, #Queen