Award-winning artist vows to quit after sexual harassment revealed

By Park Ji-won

After allegations of sexually harassing female co-workers, an award-winning male artist known for his works on immigrants in Korea apologized over his “frivolous” remarks in the past and pledged to cease creative activities as a sign of taking responsibility for his misconduct.

Criticism surged against the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, which hired the artist as director of a government-funded project, for mishandling the situation.

Yang Chul-mo, a member of mixrice, a husband-wife artistic duo who won the Korea Artist Prize (KAP) in 2016, wrote on Facebook Friday after sharing an article accusing him of sexually harassing his coworkers during the foundation's project Collective Chungjeongro that “This is an article about me… I have been making frivolous remarks and people around me have been warning me. On this occasion, I would like to make an apology to those who have been hurt by my remarks…. I won't continue working on creative activities and have quit mixrice.”

Seen is an artwork of mixrice. Courtesy of National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art

Since the formation of mixrice in 2002 with his wife Cho Ji-eun, he has been working on calling for better treatment and conditions for migrant workers in Korea through various art forms such as exhibitions and videos. Thanks to the works contributing to better understanding about minorities, his team was able to build a reputation and win various art projects.

Yang's remarks came after the Kyunghyang Shinmun newspaper released an article Friday about two artists accusing him of sexual harassment during a meeting held on Nov. 11 for the cultural project. It said he made inappropriate remarks including “I want to have sex with you” and “(People) would have wanted to seduce you as you look like a rustic and pure North Korean woman.”

According to a statement released by a committee to deal with Yang's alleged sexual harassment, a victim submitted a complaint to the Seoul foundation and asked for punishment of Yang, an apology from the leader of the foundation and further measures to prevent similar incidents in the future. As a result, Yang stepped down from the project in January and the victim received an apology letter under the name of the foundation's head Lee Kyung-ja. However, the statement claimed that the foundation didn't take any steps to actually punish Yang and closed the case claiming that it has no authority to investigate Yang because they are no longer under contract with one another. The Seoul Metropolitan Government's committee on citizens' human rights also investigated the case, but it also said it will not proceed with the case because it has no authority to do so.

A group of artists criticized the lukewarm response from the foundation, calling for the official statement from the foundation, and a thorough reinvestigation of the case and the taking of preventative measures to avert the occurrence of similar cases in the future.

The officials of the project group Collective Chungjeongro pledged to suspend the project until Seoul's cultural foundation takes appropriate measures.

Stressing that the committee for the victims decided to publicize Yang's harassment to prevent further cases, the collective said Yang's case is just one of many such cases of sexual harassment in the culture scene. Female artists are frequently the victims of sexual harassment and abuse in the arts where gender equality has not found a strong footing.