Han Deok-su on the Fifty Incident: "Reviewing Measures to Prevent Recurrence... Revising Standards Including Standard Contract"

"Member Poaching, a Factor Killing the Content Industry"

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo stated on the 8th that regarding the exclusive contract dispute involving the girl group Fifty Fifty, "We plan to investigate similar cases of damage and revise the related standard contract guidelines within this year."

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo is responding to lawmakers' questions during the Education, Social, and Cultural Government Questioning session held at the National Assembly plenary session on the 8th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

On the same day, during the National Assembly's education, social, and cultural sector government questioning session, Prime Minister Han responded to a related inquiry by People Power Party lawmaker Lee Yong by saying, "We are reviewing measures to prevent recurrence."

Prime Minister Han said, "Since K-culture, K-pop, and K-content are extremely important to Korea, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism appears to be gathering industry opinions and creating various measures to ensure the industry's sustainable development." He added, "We will also strengthen free legal support and consider additional institutional improvements through public discussions."

Lawmaker Lee pointed out, "There has been a persistent and open issue where external forces approach popular culture artists belonging to small and medium entertainment agencies to so-called 'member poaching'." In response, Prime Minister Han emphasized, "Issues such as poaching members or artists not being properly protected for the content they create and illegal distribution can ultimately be factors that severely damage the content industry, which is our future source of growth."

Referring to the 'K-Content Illegal Distribution Eradication Measures' meeting held on July 31, Prime Minister Han explained, "We are swiftly blocking illegal sites, strengthening international cooperation, and considering the introduction of punitive damages, all at the government-wide level."

Fifty Fifty achieved success with their song "Cupid" entering the top ranks of the US Billboard and UK Official Charts, but after seven months since their debut, they claimed suspension of their exclusive contract's validity and began a legal dispute with their agency. The Seoul District Court dismissed Fifty Fifty's injunction request to suspend the exclusive contract against their agency on the 29th of last month.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

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