By Han Sang-hee
Staff Reporter
Three heads of organizations under the Culture, Sports and Tourism Ministry have tendered their resignations apparently under pressure from the government.
Oh Jee-chul, president of the Korea Tourism Organization, and Jung Soon-kyun, CEO of the Korea Broadcasting Advertising Corporation, have resigned.
Their resignations came out after Minister Yu In-chon last week pressed the cultural, sports and tourism leaders appointed under the previous left-leaning Roh Moo-hyun administration should quit their post.
Both Oh and Jung worked under former the Roh administration, Oh as the vice minister of culture, sports and tourism and Jung as the head of the Government Information Agency.
Shin Hyun-taek, president Seoul Arts Center, also tendered his resignation Monday. Shin is the third official pressured to step down. Shin was appointed as head of the center in May last year; his tenure was through February 2009.
Minister Yun again pressed what he calls left-leaning heads of cultural organizations to step down Monday. But this time the minister named names.
He said, ``It is natural for Kim Jung-heun, chairman of the Arts Council Korea (ARKO) and Kim Yun-su, the director of the National Museum of Contemporary Art (NMCA), to step down. If they keep on clinging to their posts, there is nothing else to do but to clearly state their wrongdoings during their term,'' he said during the interview.
Yu explaind that ARKO chairman Kim took the post when the former chairman of ARKO resigned following an internal dispute, while NMCA director Kim pushed out Chung Jun-mo, the then KMCA curator. He also said that Jung Eun-sook, head of the National Opera of Korea and Shim Hyun-take, president of Seoul Arts Center should be held accountable for last year's fire at Seoul Arts Center.
However, Yu stepped back in the case of Shin Sun-hi, the president of the National Theater of Korea, saying that she ``made artistic accomplishments.''
Both Kims named by the minister expressed their discomfort, but signaled that they would not step down before their tenures end.
``I'm not sure if it is right to demand people to step down by naming names. I have no plans to step down,'' ARKO Chairman Kim said. NMCA director Kim also said that he will not accept Yu's demand.
Yu also proposed an alternative plan to root out nepotism: creating a dual management system.
``As they are organizations under the ministry, it would be desirable to have a dual management system where there is a representative who takes care of the management and an art director who looks after artistic direction,'' he said.