Experts work to erase the graffiti on the wall of Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul, Dec. 17, 2023. Yonhap

A court of appeals on Thursday upheld a lower court's suspended prison sentence for a vandal indicted for drawing copycat graffiti on the wall of a landmark Joseon Dynasty royal palace in Seoul.

The Seoul High Court confirmed a prison term of two years, suspended for three years, and 120 hours of community service for the 29-year-old vandal, surnamed Seol.

Seol was indicted for spray-painting the names of a singer and an album on the outer wall of Gyeongbok Palace on Dec. 17, 2023, in a copycat crime of similar vandalism committed at the same palace one day earlier.

The perpetrator of the first graffiti terror attack, identified only as an 18-year-old surnamed Im, was sentenced by a court last month to a maximum of two years in prison and a minimum of 1 1/2 years in prison. (Yonhap)