"Does it make sense for the Lee Jae-myung administration, which advocates the 'power of culture,' to parachute individuals who lack even minimal expertise or credibility into key posts?"
Backlash surrounding recent appointments of cultural and arts institution heads is spreading across Korea's cultural community. Following the appointment of Jang Dong-jik as chairman of the National Jeongdong Theater earlier this year, a string of contested appointments — including comedian Seo Seung-man as CEO of the National Jeongdong Theater and Hwang Kyo-ik as president of the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute — has triggered public protests and demands for their withdrawal.
Cultural Action, a coalition of cultural and arts organizations, held a press conference in front of the Cheong Wa Dae fountain on Tuesday, strongly criticizing the government's unilateral and opaque personnel appointments for public cultural institutions. Lee Won-jae, executive chair of Cultural Action, said, "The field feels a sense of disillusionment over what amounts to 'celebrity appointments' fronted by famous figures, 'patronage appointments' that prioritize campaign ties over expertise, and astonishingly 'backroom appointments.'" He added, "Personnel decisions are both a message and a policy. Placing unsuitable figures in these positions and claiming to evaluate them on their abilities later is highly inappropriate."
The cultural community argues that recent appointees — whose understanding, experience, and institutional management capacity in the relevant fields have not been sufficiently vetted — have been placed in major posts based on campaign involvement or personal connections. Seo, a former comedian, publicly endorsed President Lee Jae-myung during the presidential campaign and participated in stump events. Jang Han-na, appointed president of the Seoul Arts Center, is said to have served as festival director at Seongnam Arts Center when Lee was mayor of Seongnam. Actor Lee Won-jong, who campaigned for Lee declaring he was "Lee Jae-myung to the bone," was once floated as a candidate for president of the Korea Creative Content Agency but was ultimately not appointed. Hwang was tapped as CEO of Gyeonggi Tourism Organization in 2021 when Lee was Gyeonggi Province governor, only to resign a week later amid a "patronage appointment" controversy.
Song Kyung-dong, secretary general of the Writers Association of Korea, denounced the appointments, saying, "If these were figures with at least minimal expertise and social credibility, it would be understandable, but entrusting the leadership of cultural and arts institutions based solely on campaign ties is difficult to accept."
The cultural community is calling for an end to opaque and unilateral appointments, demanding a fact-finding investigation into the appointment process and a clear re-establishment of personnel principles. Voices urging the president to issue an official statement and apology have also grown louder. Related research organizations including the Korean Academy of Arts Management and the Korean Society for the Study of Leisure Culture, along with front-line artists, are pressing ahead with collective protest signature campaigns.
