By Han Sang-hee
Staff Reporter
Yu In-chon, the longest-serving minister of culture, sports and tourism since 1990, warned against politicizing cultural issues Thursday.
"We must never politicize culture. It's not easy to change cultural policies all at once. I will adopt clear and transparent policies for the promotion of the arts," Yu said.
The 58-year-old minister made the remark after a series of his policies backfired.
He ruled out any wrongdoing in the Korean Film Council's public bidding to select a builder of a visual media center and independent film theater.
Yu said that if there was any problem in the selection, he would be willing to admit to it.
"We started the bidding through a more open and transparent process. But I am eager to redo the bid if there was any wrongdoing, but if it's politically motivated, that is not right," he said.
The council selected the Korean Association of Diversity Film last month, but independent film directors said they would not accept the result. The association had received the lowest score in the first screening but was picked following a reevaluation from the council.
Yu is also under fire for his dismissal of Kim Jung-hun, the former head of the Arts Council Korea.
The dismissal triggered an odd situation as a Seoul court reinstated Kim, leaving the state-funded institute with two chairmen.