Minister Hwang Hee Announces Follow-up Measures on Cultural and Arts Blacklist: "We Will Do Our Best to Prevent Recurrence"

Mandatory Recurrence Prevention Education, Promotion of Pilot Projects Such as Art Expression Freedom Week

Hwang Hee, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, is making a presentation on the achievements and tasks of institutional improvements to prevent the recurrence of the cultural and artistic blacklist at the government Seoul office briefing room on the 17th. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has pledged to do its utmost to establish and spread systems to prevent the recurrence of the cultural and artistic blacklist controversy that occurred during the Park Geun-hye administration.

On the 17th, Minister Hwang Hee of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism held a meeting at the annex of the Government Complex and stated, “Recently, a court ruling was finalized that the state must pay compensation to individuals listed on the cultural and artistic blacklist. I hope this ruling will serve as an opportunity to advance compensation and restoration for the victims.”

He continued, “Since the cultural and artistic blacklist documents were disclosed in the National Assembly in 2016, the government has been working for the past five years to uncover the truth of the blacklist incident and prevent its recurrence. We will continue to communicate with the arts community and do our best to implement follow-up measures.”

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has formed a public-private cooperative governance task force to improve systems and has continuously monitored the progress of these improvements to prevent the recurrence of the blacklist.

As part of these efforts, in May 2018, the ministry announced a ‘New Arts Policy’ to restore trust and establish a people-centered new arts policy. In March last year, the ‘Joint Declaration on Guaranteeing the Autonomous Operation of the Korea Arts Council,’ aligned with the new arts policy, was also adopted.

Additionally, related systems such as operating a consultation window for reporting artist damages and supporting damage prevention, and introducing an employment insurance system for artists, are being continuously refined. To this end, the ‘Act on the Status and Rights Protection of Artists’ was enacted in September last year.

Furthermore, cultural and artistic institutions such as the Korea Arts Council and the Korean Film Council have undergone organizational restructuring, introducing open positions, ombudsmen, fair review evaluators, public proposal systems, and governance bodies involving private sector participation, thereby improving administrative structures comprehensively.

Minister Hwang promised, “Organizational and system improvements cannot be completed at once, so we will continue to improve systems going forward.”

To this end, the Ministry plans to continuously collect opinions from the arts field to ensure that the ‘Act on the Rights Protection of Artists’ becomes an effective system firmly established on the ground, and by September, it will prepare enforcement ordinances and rules containing specific details. There are also plans to establish an organization dedicated to protecting artists’ rights and secure budgets.

To prevent the recurrence of the blacklist incident, the ministry intends to promote measures such as developing educational materials for recurrence prevention to change societal awareness, mandating education completion for arts administration personnel, providing continuous psychological treatment support for victims, conducting oral history, transcription and research, and piloting a Freedom of Artistic Expression Week.

Minister Hwang stated, “There have definitely been positive results in the process of efforts by the cultural and artistic community, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and cultural and artistic institutions to bring about change.” He added, “We will responsibly carry out follow-up measures until the changed arts administration can be felt on the ground and do our best for the recovery and leap forward of the arts community.”

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