Impeached President Park Slams Accusations of Cultural Blacklist

Amid ongoing investigations that the current impeached President Park Geun Hye abused her executive power to blackmail artists and cultural figures, Jung Kyu-jae, chief reporter of the Korean Economic News Daily, conducted an interview with Park just before the Lunar New Year festival.

When asked about her position on the slew of allegations made against her regarding abusing authority for personal gain, Park instantly denied all as groundless rumors that were deliberately used to undermine her presidency. Though her influence in bribing conglomerates and blacklisting artists is becoming increasingly evident through the testimonies of those who have worked for her, she flat-out denied all such accusations as being absurd.

Park’s remarks comes days after ex-Culture and Sports minister Yoo Jin-ryong testified to the special prosecution committee that while she was in office, Park and her administration “systematically suppressed artists using the national budget.”

In 2014, after conflicting with the President about her staff appointments of aides that Yoo deemed unqualified, Yoo Jin-ryong resigned from his office. Now, around three years later, Yoo has made the following statements against Park and her officials (especially former top aide Kim Ki-choon): 

“President Park Geun-hye constantly ordered me to fire government officials unfavorable to Choi Soon-sil’s daughter Chung Yoo-ra.”

“Before former top aide Kim Ki-choon’s term, Park’s administration made policy moves to tolerate differences with artists. But as soon as Kim Ki-choon came, none of those policies were enforced.”

“The (creation of the) blacklist was spearheaded by Kim Ki-choon for the government to discriminate and exclude those who do not agree with it (from receiving state sponsorship).”

Park continues to deny all claims and has announced that she and her lawyers will file a suit against news agencies that have made reports about her government’s involvement with the blacklisting.

Meanwhile, the public is left perplexed and deeply shaken at the possibility that the impeached President and her cabinet acted in ways similar to Park’s father, Park Jung-hee, who is notorious for being a repressive dictator. Many, enraged by the behavior of Park’s administration, continue to fight for the right to freedom of thought and expression.

(Quotes retrieved from The Korea Herald, Yonhap News, CPBC news, The Korea Times)