[2021 National Audit] Munye-wi Refuses Appointment of Popular Culture Workers as Members... Revealing Operational Opacity

Jonggwan Park, Chairman of the Korea Arts and Culture Committee.

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dong-hyun] It has been revealed that the Korea Arts Council excluded the incumbent president of the Singers Association from the selection process last year on the grounds that popular culture is not considered culture and arts.

On the 7th, Jeong Cheong-rae, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, exposed this during the National Assembly inspection of the Korea Arts Council, the National Museum of Korea, and others at the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul.

According to the '2019 Popular Culture Arts Industry Survey' report released by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the total sales of popular culture arts reached 6.421 trillion won in 2018, with overseas sales amounting to 874.2 billion won. Popular culture accounts for about 95% of Korea's culture and arts sector.

Additionally, the economic effect of BTS's Billboard No.1 ranking is estimated at 1.7 trillion won, and Netflix's investment of 770 billion won over five years in Korean films is estimated to generate an economic effect of 5.6 trillion won. The Korea Development Institute (KDI) also analyzed that the K-pop concert hall construction project would have a ripple effect of 599.4 billion won in total production and 238.1 billion won in total added value.

Despite the significant contribution of popular culture to the cultural arts industry, the Arts Council rejected the application of Lee Ja-yeon, president of the Singers Association, during last year's committee recruitment process, citing that "it is contradictory for popular music to be included in the Arts Council." Ultimately, the Arts Council limited the scope of culture and arts to pure arts and classical music, filling all 12 committee member positions exclusively with experts from pure arts or academic fields.

Assemblyman Jeong Cheong-rae pointed out, "Article 23, Paragraph 2 of the Cultural Arts Promotion Act clearly states that 'persons from various fields and regions of culture and arts must be evenly included,'" adding, "Popular culture represents Korea's cultural arts worldwide and promotes the excellence of our culture globally." He continued, "With closed-minded thinking and perspectives, it is difficult to inspire the public through creation or art," and emphasized, "The Arts Council must be opened up so that pure arts and popular culture arts can develop together."

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