I got an e-mail feedback from somebody in Korea: Kim Il-sung was Stalin of North Korea. He killed millions of Koreans during the Korean War. He made many people's lives miserable. A Life like death isn't a life. Did you ever think about it? You hurt many people's heart. When you mentioned  him, it's like admiring Hitler to Europeans.

What can I say? Once again the huge misunderstanding to think that if I write on the wall I love Hitler, I'm a Nazi. Or I'm a homosexual. Why art is seen  as a direct manifestation of the artist's opinions? My art is definitely autobiographical. I just try to make visible the world that surrounds me.

Now the city of Yeosu wants to put next to my installation an explanation about its contents. So it seems that they are not going to censor it finally. No scandal - and I'm slightly disappointed.

Later, I got a call from a Korean radio station, they wanted me explain the work briefly. It was almost impossible while my daughter was yelling and wanted to speak to the journalist, too.

I woke up very early for the jet lag but I like to see the sunrise and do my things when my wife and daughter are sleeping. I’m wearing Hotel Bellagio’s bathrobe I stole in and my mind and my body are still partly in Yeosu. I got some news from Raúl about the mess with my work. Il-kwon e-mailed him today that the trouble with the authorities continues. This is what Raúl replied to him:

Try to get them to censor the work, to take it out down, or paint over the text that says Kim Il Sung. We can use this for publicity, and draw attention to Riiko and the show. Say, if you do not like the art piece with the text, take it down; it's a chess game, and we are better players.  Do this very tactically; let them think that they are only censoring Riiko's work, then I'll come down and pull the whole show. We can one-up all the biennials in Korea right now with this move, I have friends in Korean press and they are just looking for something like this to happen. That is why I have not sent anythin in defense of Riiko's work. Sure I could write a nice lengthy explanation, but antagonize them and have them censor. Now that the show has been documented with pictures, and we are not there, tell them the curator said if if the work bothers you, fuck you. Plus being co-curator of Media_City Seoul Biennial that opens one week form tomorrow, I'll be swamped with interviews; then I will defend Riiko's work.  

The adventure is over. I'm eating my last in-flight bibimba while I'm watching Kung Fu Panda. I'll miss the great team Raúl had formed of the artists who traveled to Yeosu: Erika, Ferrán, Jin Suk, Matt, Sari, Soyeon, Tom, Warren and Wojtek. Installing the show was probably even more chaotic than in June in Saint Petersburg. One of the highlights was the Korean artist who came just the day before the opening and moved his paintings that were already hanging on the wall. He almost punched Raúl and his wife assaulted Matt.

I did my slogan on the wall and the press got furious about it on the opening day. People were yelling but I didn't understand too much about it. Also the infamous National Intelligence Service of Korea got involved and opened a case about my work. Raúl is responsible as the curator and he must give a literal explination about it. We were planning another show in Seoul but I think that they don't let me anymore enter to South Korea. Maybe I could show next time in Pyongyang but in all likelihood the North Korean authorities wouldn't let me escape after my provocation.

I painted on the wall a huge pig playing baseball. In this time frame I couldn't do anything in color but I think that the simple black dripping outlines look impressive, too. Then I started to write We love Samsung and Kim Il-sung but after the first letter Il-Kwon stopped me and begged me to change the slogan. The city authorities - hosting the Yeosu International Art Festival - had heard of my plans and were scared. It's forbidden to praise Kim Il-sung in South Korea and the Samsung conglomerate has more power than the government. I stopped but said that if my work is censured, I go home, take all my work with me, and tell to all the world what happened. The hierarchial aministration demanded the decision from the highest level and after waiting all day, the liberal mayor of Yeosu phoned and gave green light to my provocative work. The city hosts the 2012 Expo and doesn't want to look conservative, I suppose. For the dinner, we had again a raw molluscs feast and drank lots of soju to the Korean democracy. I'm just beginning to miss potatoes, bread, tomatoes, cheese and red wine.

We’ve been touring temples and other sites around Yeosu during two days. The hosting is amazing but I hope that we can begin to prepare the Garden of Delights exhibition soon. It seems that the Koreans, the City of Yeosu and our host Il-Kwon are so proud of their country that giving us a good overview of it is even more important than doing a good show. Sari told me that in some big exhibition at Kiasma, the museum of contemporary art in Helsinki, the artists were taken to Saint Petersburg, Russia! Only we the Finns can be so negatively unpatriotic. And I'm sure that Kiasma hosted the dinners in an Italian restaurant. Here in Yeosu we eat only kimchi and raw seafood that beautiful waitresses insert into our mouths with metal chopsticks (this service is not avalialabe for the female artists).