By Jung Min-ho
Prosecutors will look closer into an “artist whitelist” scandal, in which certain artists allegedly received special treatment from former President Park Geun-hye.
On Friday, Yang Suk-jo, who previously led the “artist blacklist” probe under special counsel Park Young-Soo, was assigned to investigate artists who enjoyed special benefits, including generous government subsidies, thanks allegedly to their conservative political biases.
Yang is now forming a team and is expected to begin the investigation soon.
In March, the special counsel concluded that the Park government gave 6.8 billion won ($6 million) to some civic groups between early 2014 and late 2016 through the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), a major business lobby group.
But, while dealing with so many corruption cases involving the former president, the special counsel could not complete the investigation into the whitelist. But he said he has already confirmed that aides of the former president asked the FKI to sponsor certain groups with a specified amount of money.
The prosecution will look further into the ties between Cheong Wa Dae, the FKI and the civic groups.
Last month, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced former presidential chief of staff Kim Ki-choon to three years in prison for his role in creating the blacklist. The court also found Cho Yoon-sun, the former culture minister, guilty of perjury at a National Assembly hearing and sentenced her to one year in prison suspended for two years.