PETALING JAYA, Nov 9 — Malaysian graphic designer Fahmi Reza has been contacted by a Korean journalist for an interview on his famous clown portrait of ex-prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Fahmi admitted that he was tempted to accept the interview due to the amusing circumstances surrounding the caricature, which has been spotted in several Korean TV shows and K-pop music videos since 2018.

“I usually turn down all interviews with mainstream media, but this was so funny that I felt tempted to accept,” Fahmi wrote.

Fahmi shared a screenshot of the email from the journalist who explained that the interview would provide “useful information for Koreans to understand Malaysia” and that Korean citizens can relate to Malaysia’s struggles with corrupt politicians.

The satirical artist, well-known for lampooning Malaysia’s politicians, did not disclose if he would be taking on the interview.

Fahmi’s clown portrait recently appeared in photos of K-pop boyband NCT and prompted him to retweet the images with the hashtag #KitaSemuaPenghasut (#WeAreAllSeditious), a phrase he popularised to protest Malaysia’s Sedition Act 1948.

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The artwork is located at Pizza Express, a restaurant frequented by Instagram influencers and celebrities alike in the trendy Gangnam area in Seoul.

It appeared in the music video for the song Falling In Love by Woo Jin-young and Kim Hyun-soo in 2018 and has also been spotted on an episode of Hangout With Yoo, a reality series hosted by Korean talk show legend Yoo Jae-suk.

Fahmi first posted the clown caricature on his social media in 2016 as a form of political dissent against Najib’s corruption scandals.

He was slapped with a one-month jail sentence and a RM30,000 fine for violating Section 233(1)(a) of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, which prohibits people from creating online content that is “obscene, indecent, false, menacing or offensive in character with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass another person.”