South Korean movie stars joined a 1,000-strong rally today to protest against the government slashing the amount of time cinemas must show local films after pressure from US studios.
More than 100 actors, including Lee Byung-hun who played a sergeant in Joint Security Area and Jung Jin-young, who starred in The King and the Clown, as a 16th century king with a gay obsession for his jester, rallied in below-freezing temperatures in downtown Seoul against the quota cut.
South Korea's government announced on Jan. 26 it would halve the number of days that cinemas must show local movies to 73 from 146, in response to demands by Pixar, Walt Disney Co and other Hollywood studios. A week later, South Korea and the US agreed to begin negotiations for a free-trade agreement, aiming for a deal by the end of the year.
"We are fighting with the US for our cultural rice bowl," said Choi Min-shik -- who played a man seeking a reason and violent revenge for being held captive for 15 years in Oldboy -- to enthusiastic applause from protesters. Choi yesterday handed back his Jade Crest Cultural Medal, the fourth-highest government arts award which he received in 2004, to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism as part of a lone protest.
Film critic Yang Yoon-mo stood in a large metal cage emblazoned with red capitals "FTA," for Free Trade Agreement, near the rally, holding a sign that said: "I want to live as a critic of movies of the Republic of Korea, not a critic of US films."
The Korea Screen Quota Action Alliance, which is made up of members of the local industry, organized the rally in Seoul. Some 500 police watched the protesters, who chanted slogans such as "The government has betrayed our culture for a free trade agreement."
The US wants to increase trade with South Korea, its seventh-largest trading partner, which in the first 11 months of last year totaled US$25 billion in US exports and US$40 billion in Korean imports. An agreement would be the most significant accord since NAFTA signed with Canada and Mexico 15 years ago, said US Trade Representative Rob Portman.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
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