The Culture Ministry said on Wednesday it will conduct an investigation to root out criminal entertainment agencies as crimes against trainees becomes a growing concern.

The government, in cooperation with two representative organizations from the country’s entertainment industry, will investigate some 1,000 entertainment companies that are mostly not registered as show biz firms and are not known to the two industry groups. The two associations will create a black list of entertainment companies committing crimes and report them to broadcasting stations, cable TVs and production companies.

“The government has decided to work with Korea Entertainment Producers’ Association and Corea Entertainment Management Association to protect entertainer and trainee rights and to offer information for aspiring entertainers on whether their agencies are properly registered,” said Kim Kab-soo, director general of the content police bureau at the ministry.

“Companies that have committed crimes or maltreated their trainees won’t be able to do business in the industry in the future,” he added.

The government will also ask the industry to adopt a voluntary registration system to identity names and personal information of celebrity managers.

The announcement came a day after the police arrested a former CEO of an entertainment company on charges of extorting about 1.1 billion won ($960,000) from nearly 80 entertainer-aspirants over the last two years. The 32-year-old man identified only by his surname Park was arrested also on suspicion of assaulting female trainees in his company.

For years, the government has been announcing action plans to solve a wide range of problems in the country’s pop culture and entertainment industry.

With a string of suicides of actors and actresses, the entertainment industry has been mired in several controversies in the last few years. The death of actress Jang Ja-yeon in 2010 brought urgency to the matter of female entertainers’ human rights. Female entertainers have allegedly been pressured to offer sexual favors as bribes to influential figures. Disputes between K-pop groups such as KARA and their agencies have shed light on the issue of unfair entertainer agency contracts.

Last year, the ministry announced plans to set up an “Entertainer Support Center” to protect entertainers’ rights and improve their welfare.

However, industry insiders worry about the ministry’s lack of power to control and regulate show biz firms.

“The Culture Ministry has no legal power to regulate those companies. It should rather support industry groups so that they can freely take action against fake or misbehaving companies,” Noh Dong-ryeol, professor of media communication at Sungshin University, told The Korea Herald.

Noh also added that the government has to open education programs both for entertainer wannabes and their parents to provide general information about the country’s show biz industry.

“They should at least know what kind of contracts between trainees and the companies are right or wrong. Lectures provided by a third-party person will help them understand the nature of the industry and where they are headed,” he added.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)