Calls Growing for Overhaul of Showbiz Slave Contracts
By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter
Actress Jang Ja-yeon’s suicide and the spreading rumors about forced sexual liaisons are raising calls for the overhaul of the way entertainers are contracted to their agencies.
``Some of the rumors on the sponsors and sex are true. I heard some actresses endure hardship or pay money in order to make an appearance,’’ Mun Jae-gap of the Korea Broadcasting, Film and Performance Artists Union said on a CBS radio program.
According to Mun, it is impossible to become a top star without an agent in Korea. So most newcomers have to sign a contract with an agency that provides basic expenses. This relationship forces new talent in show business to sign unfair contracts.
Entertainers have to sign a contract that says the agency takes 90 percent of their earnings, while the performer only takes the remaining 10 percent. Long contract terms cause trouble between them as well. ``When a contract runs long haul, the signee has to suffer many injustices, with some having to maintain the disadvantageous conditions even after becoming a star,’’ Mun said.
Analysts say the entertainers usually have no one to rely on when forced to do things. ``It’s hard to appeal to the law because their image is very important, especially for young and upcoming actresses. Also, they are helpless to in dealing with wrongdoers who coerced sexual relations,’’ Mun said.
Rotten Underside
The union said it will investigate the contract conditions of other entertainers. ``We will ask the police to look into victims who are asked to pay money or coerced into having sex in order to get roles, and root out the practice,’’ a union official said.
The union will also seek help from the National Human Rights Commission.
``The police should investigate thoroughly get to the truth,’’ the union added. ``Jang’s suicide is an opportunity to uproot the abuses in the entertainment industry and we will try to prevent any recurrence.’’
Rep. Choi Mun-sun of the Democratic Party, who was the former president of broadcasting station MBC, is trying to legislate against the shady practices in show business. ``We need to revise the unreasonable agreements practice, especially the slave-like contracts,’’ Choi said. ``These problems are directly related to the human rights of the entertainers and we need laws to protect them.’’
Choi added that the recent suicide of Jang showed the rotten underside of the Korean entertainment business.
The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) will also provide standardized contract forms to entertainment agencies in order to prevent unfair contracts between new faces and the agencies during the first half of the year. The FTC said they will first accept a draft from management agencies, and discuss the details with the entertainers’ union.
Meanwhile, police have started an investigation of documents and six phone calls made by Jang around the time of her death, as well as the call logs of related people including the head of her former agencies. Jang was found dead at her apartment in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province on March 8.