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Museum accused of exploiting African artists
By Jun Ji-hye
A museum in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, has been accused of exploiting a group of African artists and a lawmaker who heads the museum has pledged to launch an investigation into the allegations.
Rep. Hong Moon-jong of the ruling Saenuri Party, chairman of the board of the Africa Museum of Original Art, said the accusations made by the artists and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions are not entirely true, but pledged to carry out an internal probe to establish the veracity of the allegations.
“Actually, I have not been directly involved in the management of the museum as I left all the matters to the president of the museum,” he said in a press release. “If any illegalities are found, I will strictly punish those responsible. If any of those have been damaged, I will make compensation for them.”
The issue came to light following a protest by 12 of the aggrieved artists at the main office of the ruling Saenuri Party in Yeouido, Monday. The artists are from countries including Burkina Faso and Zimbabwe.
Among other complaints, the artists said in a statement that they have been paid a salary of 600,000 won ($560) per month, which is about half of the nation’s legal minimum wage, and 4,000 won daily compensation for meals.
“We have been working with such little salary for years with no vacation. Racist comments from the management were common as well,” they said in a statement. “The museum offered us dorms without heating which were teaming with rats.”
They also accused the museum’s management of illegally confiscating their passports and bank accounts.
Ouedraogo Abdoul Razak, a dancer from Burkina Faso, refuted Rep. Hong’s comments telling reporters that, “In 2012, Rep. Hong had a meeting with us. Some of us who can speak English told him that we were suffering from poor residential conditions and insufficient money for meals.”
For his part, Park Sang-soon, president of the museum, denied the accusations, saying, “They received 1.1 million won per month, not 600,000 won. The museum also separately paid 20,000 won for their additional performance.”
However, he admitted that the museum has confiscated the passports of the artists, as a precaution to prevent them from absconding after receiving their salaries.
“Despite such circumstance, we know confiscation of passports was wrong. We will immediately return them,” said Park.