On the 12th, Kim Ki-hyun, representative of the People Power Party, attended the inaugural general meeting of the Cultural Freedom Movement, a conservative cultural and artist group, and said, “Recently, a band member said that he ‘reminded me of hell’ after discharging Fukushima contaminated water, so he is called a ‘conceptual celebrity.’ “Aren’t there too many celebrities who don’t have a concept?” This comment was aimed at a post written by Kim Yuna, a member of the band Jaurim, on her social network service ( SNS ) right after the discharge of contaminated water from Fukushima, Japan, saying, “On days like today, I think about hell.”
Recently, as Special Advisor to the President for Culture and Sports Yoo In-chon has become a strong candidate to become the next Minister of Culture and Sports, there are concerns that the past ‘culture and arts blacklist’ that oppressed progressive cultural artists may be repeated.
Cultural Freedom Action is a conservative cultural and artistic organization founded on the common recognition that “ideologies and standards of certain groups are hindering the development of society and the nation.” This organization “deploys sound criticism and monitoring activities to correct the absurdity, contradictions, and regression of the Korean cultural system” and 안전놀이터“cultivates cultural activities based on the values of liberal democracy and active solidarity with other societies that share these values.” The founding purpose was based on the values of liberal democracy emphasized by the Yoon Seok-yeol government, such as “promoting.”
Representative Kim also said, “It must no longer be repeated that a privileged few who monopolize cultural interests in the dark and closed underground economy collude with specific political and social forces and use the cultural and artistic world as a vanguard for propaganda.”
He said, “When importing American beef, an actor was evaluated as a concept celebrity, saying, ‘I would rather pour cyanide into my mouth than eat American beef.’ I don’t know what that concept is, but I have witnessed such an amazing thing.” Actress Kim Gyu-ri, who made the remark, was placed on the ‘culture and arts blacklist’ during the Lee Myung-bak administration due to this remark.
Representative Kim said, “Should Sister Noh Sa-yeon be ostracized for visiting President Yoon Seok-yeol’s father’s funeral, or should novelist Kim Hoon be verbally abused and called ‘senile’ for writing an article criticizing his country?” He added, “No more such disadvantages, bullying, and stigmatization.” “We need to create a culture that doesn’t work,” he said.
Woo Sang-il, former director of the Arts Department of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, who served as Secretary-General of the Cultural Freedom Movement, reported to then-Minister of Culture and Sports Cho Yun-seon in 2017 that ‘there is a blacklist in the culture and arts community.’ In 2014, at a plenary meeting of the Education, Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee where the ruling and opposition parties were at loggerheads over suspicions of Jeong Yoon-hoe’s intervention in state affairs, he sent a note to the Vice Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism saying, “We must bring the ruling and opposition parties into a fight,” sparking controversy.
In addition to Representative Kim, several ruling party figures attended the inaugural general meeting on this day, including former lawmaker Na Kyung-won and Kang Seung-gyu, Senior Secretary to the President for Civil Society.
As Special Advisor Yoo In-chon, who served as Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism during the Lee Myung-bak administration’s ‘blacklist of culture and arts’, is becoming a strong candidate for the next Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, concerns are growing that the suppression of cultural artists who run counter to the current government’s politics may be repeated. In a media interview immediately after taking office as minister in February 2008, Special Advisor Yoo said, “It is natural for the heads of culture and arts organizations with the political colors of the previous administration to step down voluntarily.”
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