[2022 National Audit] "Yeongjinwi's Simultaneous Viewing Survey for Disabled People, a 'Delay Tactic' Trick"

Insistence on Acceptability Surveys Instead of Research and Investigation by Disability Organizations
No Related Projects in Next Year's Budget Presentation Materials

The Korean Film Council (KOFIC) has not reflected the operation of pilot screening rooms with simultaneous viewing systems for people with disabilities and accessibility survey results in next year's business plan. According to budget and project briefing materials for next year released on the 13th by Kim Ye-ji (People Power Party), a member of the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, there were no new projects related to accessibility for disabled moviegoers, such as support for audiovisual assistive devices. The budget for projects related to the movie viewing environment for people with disabilities, including the production of Korean subtitles and audio description content under the movie enjoyment rights enhancement project, support for disabled film festivals, and operation of the online platform Gachibom, amounted to only 1.866 billion KRW.

The operation of pilot screening rooms with simultaneous viewing systems for people with disabilities and the accessibility survey are follow-up measures to the second trial ruling of a disability discrimination relief lawsuit filed in 2016 by four people with visual and hearing impairments against the three major multiplex chains (CGV, Lotte Cinema, Megabox). This was decided at a KOFIC advisory meeting. At that time, the court ruled that "in screening rooms with more than 300 seats or multiplex cinemas where all screening rooms have more than 300 seats, at least one screening room must provide audio description and Korean subtitles for 3% of all screening times using either open or closed screening methods."

KOFIC refused to accept related research and survey results from some disability organizations and insisted on conducting its own operation and accessibility survey. When criticized for possibly delaying to accommodate the convenience of the three major multiplex chains, KOFIC explained, "We are preparing grounds to secure a budget for supporting audiovisual assistive devices in screening rooms." However, by not allocating the related budget, it only fueled further misunderstanding.

According to the court's judgment, it would cost about 1.2 billion KRW to prepare at least two audio description receivers and subtitle receivers each. Assembly member Kim pointed out, "This is only 0.6% of KOFIC's total budget," and added, "If they conduct the accessibility survey but do not allocate the related budget, it will be difficult to avoid criticism of 'stalling'."

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