People in cultural fields call on new administration to promote fairness, offer practical support
By Dong Sun-hwa
Choi Kwang-ho, secretary general of Korea Music Content Association / Courtesy of Korea Music Content Association
By Dong Sun-hwa
With Yoon Suk-yeol of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) being elected as the new president of Korea, people in the fields of culture, art and religion are calling on the new administration to promote fairness and lend more practical support.
“We hope the new government gives fairer treatment to our pop singers,” Choi Kwang-ho, secretary general of the Korea Music Content Association, told The Korea Times, Thursday. “While international award-winning classical musicians and athletes are exempt from fulfilling their compulsory military service, K-pop singers cannot enjoy the same benefit, even if they rank first on several global charts.”
Under the current law, all able-bodied men aged between 18 and 28 should join the armed forces and serve for nearly two years.
“We believe K-pop stars should also be allowed to continue their musical activities without a halt, so that they can keep enhancing our national image,” he added. “The new administration needs to protect the rights of K-pop labels as well. Many broadcasters are currently racking up profits on various platforms by releasing the content that features celebrities, but as of now, the labels cannot claim their rights to such content, as there are no clear rules. We think the government has to formulate a policy that can help them.”
Yoon Dong-hwan, vice president of the Record Labels Industry Association (LIAK) and CEO of management company M.Y.music Ent, stressed the need for more practical support.
“When it comes to support, the standpoint of the government has always been different from that of music industry insiders,” he noted. “I hope the new administration listens to the voices of the insiders and propose policies that can actually help us grow up.”
Choi Jeong-hwa, president of the Producers Guild of Korea, says film industry people have always demanded only one thing from the government: support that is not accompanied by intervention or meddling.
“Our request, however, has hardly been accepted,” he said. “Since cultural content has far-reaching powers, the government frequently meddled in the creative process when it gave us support. But we want to change this, so that our content will not take a step backward. On top of that, as far as I know, the budget to prop up the cultural industry accounts for less than 2 percent of the total state budget, which is a significantly minimal amount compared to the massive influence of our culture. We believe there should be more financial support.”
Park Cheong-euy, center, president of the Seoul Theater Association / Courtesy of the Seoul Theater Association
Park Cheong-euy, president of the Seoul Theater Association, said that the new administration has to provide more free or discounted tickets for people to watch theatrical shows.
“As of now, the government only gives free or discounted tickets to low-income families, but if it extends the scope and allows more people benefit, they will naturally watch more shows and give our industry a boost,” he said.
The Yoon administration should declare that it will not draw up a “blacklist of artists,” he added. In 2016, then-President Park Geun-hye and her aides came under fire for creating a blacklist of 9,473 artists who were critical of the Park administration, to disadvantage them.
“Without such a declaration, we will not be able to bring other key issues to the table, such as an improvement of the creative environment. We want to hear the government officials saying they will continue to give us a helping hand and that they will spare no efforts in preventing the recurrence of the incident that took place in 2016.”
Choi Jung-wha, president of CICI / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk
Choi Jung-wha, the president of global culture promotion advocacy Corea Image Communication Institute (CICI), believes that the new government should map out smart diplomatic strategies.
“Since the global influence of Korean culture is more powerful than ever, the new administration needs to employ smart diplomatic tactics using its global clout,” Choi said. She is also a professor at the Graduate School of Interpretation and Translation at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS).
“As evidenced by the popularity of Korean music, films, games and webtoons, the world is now fascinated by Korean storytelling. Hence, the new government should empower our creators to make a full use of their creativity and make adjustments only when they are necessary. It also has to provide more support for them so that Korean culture can be elevated to the next level. I believe this can prompt the growth of Korea's influence in the fields of world politics and diplomacy as well.”
People in the art field and industry echoed this sentiment.
Choung Yong-suk, secretary general of the Art Exhibition Organizers Association of Korea / Courtesy of the Art Exhibition Organizers Association of Korea
“Korean art, which has long been undervalued, is increasingly being recognized across the globe, but we can revitalize our industry and raise the public interest in art only if we continue to hold large-sized exhibitions,” Choung Yong-suk, the secretary general of the Art Exhibition Organizers Association of Korea, said.
Adding that the art industry could not receive sufficient financial support from the government until the establishment of the association in 2020, Choung said that most exhibition organizers are still not reaping the benefits.
“In 2020, the government set aside an extra budget worth 5.2 billion won ($4.2 million) to help the art scene, but we could only use about 700 million won because the government took back the remaining amount. So I hope it considers covering up the financial loss triggered by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and to help us find more spaces where we can showcase diverse artworks.”
Religious leaders, including Wonhaeng, the president of the Jogye Order, the largest Buddhist order in Korea, Bishop Peter Chung Soon-taek, the Catholic archbishop for Seoul, and Lee Hong-jung, the general secretary of the National Council of Churches in Korea, stressed the significance of finding unity among divisions through equitable policies and ample support.
“The new administration has to come up with fair policies if it wants to seek unity and the coexistence of different people,” Wonhaeng said.