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The first day of this year’s parliamentary audit of the National Assembly’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee was dominated so thoroughly by Park Jin-young that observers dubbed it the “Park Jin-young audit.” Park, who serves as co-chairman of the Popular Culture Exchange Committee, faced criticism that the panel and its “Fanomenon Awards and Festival” amounted to “government promotion” and a “Daejang-dong of the culture industry” — a reference to the Daejang-dong land development scandal, shorthand in Korea for steering lucrative development rights to a favored private group — a reference to the notorious Daejang-dong land development scandal, now shorthand in Korea for collusion between public officials and private developers for private profit — a reference to the Daejang-dong land development corruption scandal, implying improper insider dealing — but was seen as having held his ground.
Appearing before the audit of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on the 7th, Park responded to questions from People Power Party lawmaker Cho Eun-hee and others, who suggested that holding Fanomenon in December next year — just ahead of the general elections — would lead the public to conclude that Park had ultimately sided with the current administration.
“Even if someone above the president came to me, I would not do it if I did not think it was for our country,” Park said. “I am not the type to get intimidated because someone tells me to do something.”
Park said the event, if successful, would benefit the country. “This is a precious opportunity that our sons, daughters and nephews can all benefit from. Please trust me,” he said. “I did not even know there was an election. I am absolutely not the kind of person who does this for the president or for the Democratic Party. I have never even thought about it.”
Park actively defended himself against the various controversies surrounding the Fanomenon event. In a briefing on the exchange committee’s work, he said the panel draws up plans and generates ideas between the government and private companies, then decides on implementation depending on the nature of each project — sometimes government-led, sometimes private-led. “We concluded that, given the nature of the project, it was right for the Fanomenon Awards and Festival to be private-led,” he said.
Responding to People Power Party lawmaker Bae Hyun-jin, who pressed him over JYP Entertainment — Park’s company — filing first for the Fanomenon trademark and likened the arrangement to the “Daejang-dong scandal,” a reference to a controversial land-development case seen as insider profiteering, Park said: “I think we ended up using various methods out of fear that someone would take this away, because at least in intent we were really trying to do it well.”
He acknowledged, “I think it was not a normal method,” but added: “Still, it has been so rewarding. There is no chance the trademark will remain with JYP Entertainment.”
To claims that the event gives preferential treatment to the country’s four largest entertainment agencies, Park countered that it was “a project that begins on the collateral of several years of sacrifice by the four companies.”
“If the signature artists of the four companies skipped this and performed separately during the Fanomenon event, they would make two or three times the revenue,” he said. “Getting them to sacrifice that was extremely difficult. I begged YG, SM and HYBE. These companies face losses in the tens of billions of won over the next several years.”
He added: “They all made a major decision to go ahead because of the long-term vision and the spillover effects this will bring to our country and other industries. If each company skipped the event and staged concerts by its own artists during that time, they could earn far more money. So it is a bit of a stretch to say they are receiving preferential treatment.”
After Park left the hearing, proceedings were briefly disrupted over how a contract between the culture ministry and JYP Entertainment transferring trademark and other rights for the Fanomenon event came to be disclosed that day. Bae, who had pressed Park most intensely, displayed part of the contract on a large screen in the audit chamber while arguing that JYP Entertainment would not be in breach of contract even if it failed to transfer the trademark rights it had filed for to the government.
Ruling party lawmakers responded by calling for scrutiny of how the contract had been exposed. According to the ministry, a staff member of the exchange committee visited Bae’s office on the 11th of last month and allowed her aides only to “view” the original contract, which is confidential, and reviewed its contents with them. During the session, an aide suggested that it would be easier to review if a copy were made so each person could read it. The committee staff member then permitted the copying, reviewed the contents together with the aides, and left after retrieving both the original and the copy.
In other words, an aide in Bae’s office made an additional copy of the contract, kept it, and released it that day. Committee Chairman Lee Jae-jung said the panel needed to discuss “responsibility for the unauthorized copying of the contract and whether to retrieve it,” adding that “an investigation may also be necessary into how it was obtained by deceiving a civil servant.”
Bae pushed back, saying: “You are trying to shift the frame — from the contents of the contract to how it was obtained. Do we have to report even how we obtained our materials?” Lawmakers from both parties then traded shouts in a heated exchange. Lee eventually settled the matter, saying: “Please exercise maximum caution in disclosure. It would be acceptable to process the contents and weave them into your questions.”
The film “The Assassins” was another major point of contention that day. The People Power Party argued that director Hur Jin-ho and others should be summoned as witnesses because the production team had sought to instill a flawed understanding of history. The Democratic Party opposed the move, calling it suppression of creative freedom.
People Power Party lawmaker Kim Seung-soo said: “A great many citizens are curious about how the film was made and the intent behind the malicious editing of its content. Yet not a single witness or reference witness has been approved. Director Hur and the screenwriter must be designated as witnesses.”
Democratic Party lawmaker Choi Min-hee countered: “The parliamentary audit is not a venue for censoring ideology, nor for suppressing freedom of artistic creation. I watched the film closely and concluded that the claims of historical distortion are preposterous, so I oppose designating witnesses.”
As the dispute continued, Lee stepped in, saying it was “not appropriate to discuss the content of a film in an audit chamber.” He added: “As chairman, I cannot permit summoning creators to the National Assembly to examine the content of a film.”
Culture Minister Choi Hwi-young said: “The Lee Jae-myung administration does not intervene in the content of creative works in any way. We do not conduct prior censorship. I believe my calling, at least in culture and the arts, is to ensure that diversity and creativity are not undermined.”
On the recently contentious issue of military service benefits for Asian <a href="https://comicvibe.com/5-classic-ps2-games-that-deserve-modern-remakes/” title=”5 Classic PS2 Games That Deserve Modern Remakes”>Games national team athletes, the ruling and opposition parties — and the culture ministry — found common ground. Democratic Party lawmaker Cho Kye-won called for reform, saying: “The military service exemption is a kind of benefit granted to athletes who have contributed to enhancing national prestige, but the attitude of athletes who went so far as to stage performances effectively mocking the military has provoked public outrage.”
Culture Minister Choi Hwi-young said: “We are in discussions with the Ministry of National Defense, and ultimately there is no choice but to move in the direction of scaling back the exemptions.” He added that the ministry would “take a comprehensive look at discussions over issues such as declining morale in the arts and sports.”
#ParkJinYoung#JYP#Fanomenon#KPop#NationalAssembly#KoreanFilm
Original reporting by Choi Soo-moon for Seoul Economic Daily.
AI-translated from Korean. Quotes from foreignxact original wording
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