"No Blacklist" Cultural Power Balancing Strategy Pressuring Candidate Yoon In-chon

Yoon In-chon, Minister of Culture Candidate, National Assembly Confirmation Hearing
Opposition: "Denial of Blacklist Is Perjury... Evidence Abounds"
Ruling Party: "No Related Complaints or Accusations at All"

Yoo In-chon, the nominee for Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, strongly denied allegations of a 'blacklist in the cultural and artistic community' during the Lee Myung-bak administration, stating that it "absolutely did not exist," as the ruling and opposition parties engaged in sharp exchanges.

Yoo In-chon, nominee for Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, is responding to questions from lawmakers at the confirmation hearing held at the National Assembly on the 5th.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

At the parliamentary confirmation hearing for Yoo on the 5th, the opposition Democratic Party of Korea continued its offensive, saying, "There is overwhelming evidence." In this process, the report on the 'Cultural Power Balancing Strategy,' which was the actual blacklist strategy, emerged as a key issue.

The Democratic Party focused on questioning Yoo's involvement in the blacklist. The main topics were whether Yoo, who was the Minister of Culture at the time, was involved in the 'Cultural Power Balancing Strategy' document prepared by the Blue House during the Lee Myung-bak administration and the 'Government Criticism Forces in the Culture and Entertainment Sector' (known as the 82-person list) document prepared by the National Intelligence Service.

According to the 'White Paper on the Investigation and Institutional Improvement of the Cultural and Artistic Community Blacklist' released by the Democratic Party during this process, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism effectively led the blacklist and whitelist under the Blue House's orders at the time.

The 'Cultural Power Balancing Strategy' document mentioned in the white paper included ▲forming a sound cultural force, creating a cultural policy forum as a new think tank and incorporating it as a nonprofit organization ▲establishing a new cultural fund between large-scale cultural capital and the government ▲building a sound talent base through content contests.

The Democratic Party pointed out that three months after the Blue House document was prepared, the nonprofit Korea Cultural Contents Industry Association was launched, and a Cultural Contents Forum was created within the organizational structure. According to Blue House orders, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Korea Communications Commission, and the Presidential Committee on Future Planning provided financial support for research, symposiums, and publications.

Additionally, the Korean Film Council, a subordinate agency of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, supported films and filmmakers on the whitelist through an 80 billion won fund established according to this document, and the Korea Cultural Contents Industry Association and the Clean Contents National Movement Headquarters, established at the Blue House's request, held content contests sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, awarding the Minister's Prize.

Yoo In-chon, nominee for Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, is responding to questions from lawmakers at the confirmation hearing held at the National Assembly on the 5th.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

In response, the ruling party came to Yoo's defense. Lee Yong, a member of the People Power Party, explained, "As far as I know, there have been no complaints or accusations against the nominee regarding the cultural blacklist." Hwang Bo-seung-hee, an independent lawmaker formerly of the People Power Party, emphasized, "According to the documents I have confirmed about the blacklist, the Lee Myung-bak administration's National Intelligence Service blacklist was operated as a 'one-track NIS operation' with almost no involvement from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism."

Yoo also actively denied the allegations. Yoo stated, "When I was working as the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, such documents never surfaced or were discovered,” and “(The blacklist) absolutely did not exist, and the term 'blacklist' itself was never used at that time.”

In response, Lim Jong-sung, a Democratic Party lawmaker, asked, "During your tenure as Minister of Culture, did you ever receive direct reports or separate documents from the National Intelligence Service?"

Yoo replied, "No," adding, "I never saw or received such documents, and the National Intelligence Service never came to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to hand anything over directly. The authenticity and authorship are unclear. I cannot trust it fully, and no actual actions were taken."

Lim pointed out, "The nominee's name is mentioned as many as 104 times in the white paper published by the Investigation and Institutional Improvement Committee on the Cultural and Artistic Community Blacklist," adding, "There are that many testimonies pointing toward the nominee."

When asked about his thoughts on the blacklist itself, Yoo said, "It absolutely should not exist, and I believe such actions should never be taken." He continued, "In interviews, I have said that if such things were done, one should 'offer a sincere apology' and 'take responsibility for the results.' I emphasize again that during my tenure, I never created lists to exclude or provide unequal support."

Yoo also stated, "It is important to listen to diverse opinions, and opposing me will not cause any other harm. We should not dwell on the past but focus more on moving forward. I will listen carefully to those who oppose me or have opposing views," drawing a clear line by saying, "I do not want to call those who oppose me cultural artists. They are cultural activists."

He added, "Many who have announced their support for me are artists who dance, act, and sing on the scene. If I had created a blacklist and excluded them, such support actions would not be happening now."

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