Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism "Lee Seung-jeong's Appointment as Chairman of Hanmunyeon Not Approved... Notification of Re-election"

Chairman Lee Reelected by 10 Votes on August 30 Last Year
After Objection Filed, Ministry of Culture Conducts Office Inspection from October

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced on the 18th that it has rejected (disapproved) the inauguration application of Lee Seung-jeong, president of the Korea Culture and Arts Centers Association. This disapproval, coming 10 months after the election, is expected to lead to further controversy such as a re-election.

Lee Seung-jeong, President of the Korea Cultural and Arts Center Association

The ministry explained, "As a result of the office inspection conducted after the election, it was found that there were cases of proxy voting rights beyond the scope specified in the articles of association, and signs of violation of the fair election duties by the election management committee for the president, leading to the conclusion that the decision on the winner cannot be recognized."

It added, "We have notified the Korea Culture and Arts Centers Association to promptly proceed with a re-election for the normal operation of the institution, and we plan to closely monitor the progress to ensure a fair and transparent election."

Lee Seung-jeong previously served as vice president of the Korea Federation of Artistic and Cultural Organizations and president of the Jeollanam-do Federation of the Korea Federation of Artistic and Cultural Organizations, and has been president of the Korea Culture and Arts Centers Association since 2019.

The Korea Culture and Arts Centers Association held an extraordinary general meeting on August 30 last year to elect the next president, and at that time, Lee Seung-jeong, who was the incumbent president, was elected by a margin of 10 votes. However, immediately after the election, objections to the winner’s decision and complaints regarding unfairness of the presidential election management committee were filed, and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism conducted an election office inspection starting from October last year when the inauguration application was submitted.

The ministry stated that the office inspection confirmed cases of proxy voting rights that violated the articles of association and regulations.

The articles of association of the Korea Culture and Arts Centers Association state that if a member (cultural center) representative is unable to attend the general meeting due to special reasons such as accident or vacancy, the representative may delegate rights to an employee of the member or a representative of another member. However, 10 cases were found where the voting rights delegated by a member’s representative to another member’s representative were further re-delegated to an employee of that other member, constituting 're-delegation.'

This is considered by the majority of legal experts reviewing the office inspection to be beyond the scope of delegation specified in the articles of association. Due to the nature of voting rights exercised anonymously, delegation should be strictly and narrowly permitted within the scope specified in the articles of association.

In other words, including 5 delegations already separately invalidated by the presidential election management committee after the winner’s decision, the total number of invalid votes due to unrecognized voting rights amounts to 15, exceeding the 10-vote margin between candidates.

The ministry added, "The results of the office inspection in December last year were notified to both candidates. From February to June this year, we repeatedly requested the Korea Culture and Arts Centers Association to decide on the recognition of re-delegation of votes through a general meeting, but the association has not held a general meeting to date."

The ministry stated, "Along with the rejection (disapproval) of this presidential inauguration application, we have notified the Korea Culture and Arts Centers Association to promptly proceed with a re-election for the normal operation of the institution, and we plan to closely monitor the progress to ensure a fair and transparent election."

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