The South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism yesterday apologized for a blacklist of artists which excluded them from government support, admitting there was a systematic effort to sideline critics of scandal-plagued South Korean President Park Geun-hye.
The apology was the clearest admission yet of the blacklist of cultural and media figures critical of the impeached leader that has led to the arrests of her former chief of staff and the South Korean culture minister at the weekend for abuse of power.
“It is distressing and shameful that the ministry, which should have been the bulwark for freedom of artistic expression and creativity, has caused questions of fairness in assisting culture and arts with a list of artists to be excluded from public support,” South Korean Vice Culture Minister Song Soo-keun said.
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The blacklist, part of which was seen by Reuters, contains the names of thousands of actors, writers, film directors and others.
It includes acclaimed film directors like Cannes award winner Park Chan-wook, Venice Film Festival top prize winner Kim Ki-duk and actors Moon So-ri and Song Gang-ho. None was immediately available for comment.
‘GUIDELINES’
Faced with a political crisis earlier in her term, the government and state entities used the blacklist as “guidelines” to penalize artists and censor content, a special prosecutor’s office investigating an influence-peddling scandal said last week.
Park’s former chief of staff, Kim Ki-choon, and South Korean Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Cho Yoon-sun, who was the first sitting Cabinet member ever to be arrested before she resigned from her post at the weekend, are charged with abuse of power and perjury.
Both have denied the existence of the list, or in playing a role in drawing it up, although Cho later said she had heard of such a list.
The presidential Blue House has also denied that a blacklist exists.
Park was impeached by parliament last month after accusations that she colluded with long-time friend Choi Soon-sil to pressure big businesses to donate to two foundations established to back her policy initiatives.
BUSINESS TIES
The special prosecutor’s office yesterday said it plans to investigate other conglomerates after finishing its probe of Samsung Group, the largest, whose leader has been named a suspect in the graft scandal surrounding Park.
Office spokesman Lee Kyu-chul did not elaborate on when the investigation into Samsung might end or what other conglomerates the office planned to investigate.
Lee also said the office might question more Samsung officials, but it was not clear whether he meant those who already had been called for questioning.
Park, 64, remains in office, but has been stripped of her powers while the South Korean Constitutional Court decides whether to uphold the impeachment.
Park has been accused by legal authorities and lawmakers of putting pressure on the entertainment industry in retaliation for satirical and other attacks, echoing the dark days of oppression under her father, former South Korean president Park Chung-hee.
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