Ex-minister, Park aide quizzed over ‘blacklist’

By Bak Se-hwan

Published : Jan. 8, 2017 - 15:15

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In the latest twist in the influence-peddling and corruption scandal involving President Park Geun-hye, special investigators resummoned former culture-related top officials to dig into allegations that the administration cracked down on dissident artists and cut state support.

Former Culture Minister Kim Jong-deok on Sunday faced questioning at the special prosecutors‘ office in southern Seoul over suspicions that he took part in keeping a blacklist of about 10,000 artists deemed unfriendly to the government.

Kim Sang-ryul, former senior presidential secretary for education and culture, was also summoned separately in the afternoon on the same allegation.

Former Culture Minister Kim Jong-deok on Sunday enters the special prosecutors’ office in Daechi-dong, southern Seoul, to face questioning over alleged involvement in keeping a blacklist against anti-government artists. (Yonhap)

”(Both Kims) were summoned as suspects, so the next step is to decide whether to request an arrest warrant on them,” Lee Kyu-chul, spokesperson for the special prosecutors‘ office, told reporters.

The two former officials have been in stern denial. Minister Kim even claimed in the parliamentary hearings last month that he had not seen such a list, let alone been involved in it.

Investigators are focusing on finding out whether the list, allegedly written by the President Chief of Staff’s Office, was handed over to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism by Kim Sang-ryul, who was at the time the presidential official in charge.

The so-called blacklist was first disclosed to the public late last year by former Culture Minister Yoo Jin-ryong, Minister Kim‘s predecessor, who claimed that Park’s administration has been monitoring and discouraging artistic circles that are not favorable to the president.

It reportedly included some of the country’s most renowned cultural figures, including “Oldboy” film director Park Chan-wook and poet Ko Un, whose name frequently surfaces for the Nobel literature prize.

Also, the list contained the names of actors who have signed statements criticizing the government’s failure to prevent the 2014 ferry sinking that claimed more than 300 passengers, according to opposition lawmaker Do Jong-hwan, who broke the list to the media.

The resummoning of the two key cultural officials, marking their second questioning at the special prosecutors, triggered speculations that chief independent counsel Park Young-soo recently decided to tighten his grip on the issue, with evidence backing up the existence of such a list.

The forthcoming investigation result is deemed a crucial step leading up to the suspected connection of the list to the upper-level administration, involving incumbent Culture Minister Cho Yoon-sun and former presidential chief of staff Kim Ki-choon.

“We have been investigating a number of key witnesses and suspects involved in making the list for artists to cut state support,“ spokesperson Lee told reporters earlier. “After we finish handling the case, we will decide whether we shall continue summoning former presidential chief of staff Kim and Culture Minister Cho.”

By Bak Se-hwan (sh@heraldcorp.com)

Ex-minister, Park aide quizzed over ‘blacklist’

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