Geochang International Theater Festival Issues Statement: "'Together Geochang' Must Not Tarnish Geochang's Honor!"

Opening Ceremony of the Geochang International Theatre Festival (Photo by Geochang International Theatre Festival)

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Soon-kyung] The Geochang International Theater Festival Development Committee (hereinafter referred to as the Development Committee) issued a statement on the 5th, saying that the civic group "Hamkkehaneun Geochang" should not tarnish its honor.

In the statement, the Development Committee said, "The civic group 'Hamkkehaneun Geochang' claims that although the county signed a contract agreement with the Geochang International Theater Festival Executive Committee on December 24, 2018, the registration date of the trademark in the contract is October 1, 2019, and this is a breach of duty by the county for signing a purchase contract before the Executive Committee acquired the trademark of the Geochang International Theater Festival."

They added, "As disclosed by the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the 'Geochang International Theater Festival KIF' trademark was registered on July 21, 2010, and anyone can easily verify this. Despite this, making false claims can only be suspected as either ignorance or intentional attempts to sow discord among the county residents."

The civic group "Hamkkehaneun Geochang" stated regarding the subsidy settlement of the Geochang International Theater Festival that "the Executive Committee representative was sentenced to a fine of 5 million won with imprisonment."

However, the Executive Committee was cleared of all charges in six criminal subsidy accusation cases related to the Geochang International Theater Festival filed by a very small number of slanderous forces from 2008 to early 2016.

The Development Committee raised their voice, saying, "The civic group 'Hamkkehaneun Geochang' should immediately stop the 'self-defeating act' of insulting all parties related to the Geochang International Theater Festival and ultimately tarnishing the county's honor."

On November 13 last year, the Seoul Central District Court ruled that Geochang County must pay 1.7 billion won to the Executive Committee as their share of contribution based on the economic ripple effect of the Geochang International Theater Festival.

Furthermore, the expert team responsible for the valuation, assuming that the Geochang International Theater Festival grew through the efforts of all county residents, estimated the Executive Committee's contribution at about 18% by the county's evaluation team and about 12% by the Executive Committee's evaluation team.

Despite this valuation method of the Geochang International Theater Festival being reported by many media outlets, the civic group "Hamkkehaneun Geochang" continues to falsely agitate, claiming that the Executive Committee monopolizes all the accumulated value of the festival.

Finally, the Development Committee said, "We hope that the civic group 'Hamkkehaneun Geochang' will immediately stop acts that hinder the normalization of the Geochang International Theater Festival and tarnish the county's honor," and added, "If they continue false agitation to disrupt the festival again and act against the interests of the county residents, we will not remain idle."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.