S. Korean ministry apologises over artists’ blacklist

Seoul, Jan 23 (IANS) The South Korean Culture Ministry on Monday apologised for its involvement in blacklisting of artists who were critical of the government of embattled President Park Geun-hye.

"As the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is supposed to protect and pursue the freedom of expression and creativity of artists, we are embarrassed about excluding artists from public support and infringing on fairness to support cultural arts," said First Vice Culture Minister Song Soo-keun, who is currently the acting minister.

"We've failed to prevent such a mishap and find out the truth about it in times ahead and did not provide a measure to prevent history from repeating. We have no intention to make excuses and all deputies are keenly in self-reflection," The Korea Times reported citing Song as saying.

The acting minister vowed to cooperate with the special prosecution to find out the specific procedure and details of the blacklisting and endure any responsibilities that will follow.

To prevent similar scandals in the future, the culture ministry said it will establish an independent organization to act as "culture ombudsman", receiving reports on undue intervention and unfair cases.

Song also promised to reform the Culture and Arts Promotion Act to lay down regulations that prevent unjust discrimination or intervention from the beginning.

Projects that have been restricted or cancelled due to unfair infringement will be restored through internal examination.

Culture Minister Cho Yoon-sun was arrested on Saturday, for perjury and abusing her authority along with former presidential chief of staff Kim Ki-choon.

Investigators are now looking into whether President Park was behind the creation and management of the list. Park has denied the allegations, The Korea Herald said.

The list is known to have nearly 10,000 people on it, including author Han Kang, winner of the Man Booker International Prize in 2016, and director Park Chan-wook, who won the grand prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2004.