[Inside Chodong] The Seoul International Book Fair Must Not Be Disrupted

Conflict Continues Over KPA Profits
Crisis Looms as MCST Refuses Budget Execution

The history of the Seoul International Book Fair, opening this June at COEX, is long. It was launched 70 years ago in 1954 under the name National Book Exhibition. It was elevated to an international book fair in 1995, the 50th anniversary of Liberation, and has been established as an international event for nearly 30 years. It is undoubtedly the largest book fair in Korea, but it has recently faced a crisis due to ongoing conflicts between the Korea Publishers Association (KPA) and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) since last year.

The Seoul International Book Fair is hosted and organized by the KPA and supported by the MCST and others. Typically, the MCST allocates the budget related to the Seoul International Book Fair to the KPA in March or April, after consultations between both parties at the beginning of the year and the KPA’s budget application. However, this year, no agreement has been reached yet. On the 16th, the MCST issued a press release stating, "Since the KPA, which is currently under investigation, finds it difficult to directly execute the Seoul International Book Fair budget, we are seeking a reasonable alternative for budget execution."

In August last year, the MCST requested an investigation by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency into KPA Chairman Yoon Cheol-ho and Seoul International Book Fair Director Ju Il-woo, alleging that the KPA omitted profits from the Seoul International Book Fair, which received government subsidies. Two months later, the KPA counter-sued four MCST officials for defamation, leading to a direct confrontation. The conflict has continued unresolved since last year.

The 2023 Seoul International Book Fair held at COEX last June. [Photo by Yonhap News]

Looking at the current situation, it seems the MCST might be overreaching. The MCST claims that 428.54 million KRW in profits from the Seoul International Book Fair between 2018 and 2022 were omitted and demands the KPA return this amount. However, the KPA argues that the calculated profits include ‘self-funded resources’ such as member companies’ participation fees, so they cannot acknowledge this claim.

According to the Act on the Management of Subsidies (Subsidy Act), the sponsoring body, the MCST, can request the return of profits, but it must have clearly stated this condition at the time of subsidy allocation.

However, the KPA stated that before the conflict arose last year, the MCST had not attached any conditions regarding the definition, calculation method, or scope of profits to be returned related to the Seoul International Book Fair subsidies. Furthermore, the KPA’s position is that the settlements for the 2018 and 2019 Seoul International Book Fair projects had already been completed at that time. In short, there is a difference in opinion between the MCST and the KPA regarding the method and scope of profit settlement. It can be seen as a dispute with unresolved allegations against the KPA.

The police investigation is similar. The KPA says that so far, only Chairman Yoon has been questioned as a witness. It is still too early to say that any charges have been confirmed by the police investigation. In this situation, one wonders if the MCST really needed to refuse the execution of the Seoul International Book Fair budget. Suspending the subsidy execution for this year’s Seoul International Book Fair over a disputed profit settlement seems excessive. If the KPA’s wrongdoing becomes clear in the future, responsibility can be held then. Moreover, the MCST is currently also refusing to execute budgets for other projects, such as the operation budget for the guest of honor country at overseas book fairs.

If the Seoul International Book Fair experiences disruption, the damage will ultimately fall on the public. Last year, the Seoul International Book Fair was a major event attended by 130,000 people over five days.

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