KPA "MOCT Standard Contract Illegal"... Petition Submitted to the National Human Rights Commission

Yoon Cheol-ho, President of the Korea Publishing Culture Association. [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] The Korea Publishers Association has submitted a petition to the National Human Rights Commission, claiming that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s establishment and announcement of the standard contract form is illegal.

On the 25th, the Korea Publishers Association stated, "We submitted a petition to the Human Rights Commission on the 19th, asserting that the forced use of the standard contract form by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Publication Industry Promotion Agency is illegal."

Last month on the 22nd, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced the establishment of 10 types of standard contracts for the publishing sector. At that time, the Ministry stated in a press release that the use of the government standard contract, which had previously been specified only as a requirement for the ‘Excellent Publishing Content Production Support Project,’ would be expanded to three other production support projects: ‘Publishing Content Creator Fund Support,’ ‘Excellent Content eBook Production Activation,’ and ‘Audiobook Production Support.’ Furthermore, it specified that it would also apply to book purchase projects such as the ‘Sejong Book Selection Purchase Support Project’ and the ‘Youth Book Token Support Project.’

In response, the Publishers Association pointed out, "This means that in order to receive government support for production support and book purchase projects, the use of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s standard contract form is required, effectively forcing its use." They also noted, "The Promotion Agency has been enforcing the use of the Ministry’s standard contract form in government support projects since the 3rd of last month, before the Ministry officially announced it, causing discrimination against publishers who do not use it."

The Publishers Association criticized that although the Basic Act on Cultural Industry Promotion stipulates that the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism should be the entity to establish the standard contract form, there is evidence that the head of the Promotion Agency drafted it, deeming this illegal. According to the Association, the head of the Promotion Agency announced a research project titled ‘Improvement Plan for Standard Contracts in the Publishing Sector’ on April 10th last year, and based on the bidding results, the Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation of Semyung University conducted the research. Despite the research results being delivered to the head of the Promotion Agency, the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced these results as the ‘Standard Contract Form for the Publishing Sector.’

The Association further stated that the Basic Act on Cultural Industry Promotion allows the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism to ‘recommend’ the establishment or revision of standard terms or standard contracts and their implementation, but the Minister and the head of the Promotion Agency have gone beyond this level and are effectively ‘forcing’ their use.

A representative of the Publishers Association said, "The establishment and forced use of the standard contract form by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Promotion Agency effectively hinder free publishing activities," and added, "We request the Human Rights Commission to recommend the cessation and abolition (withdrawal of the announcement) of this."

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