21.01.2017
Gye Hyeonu
KBS News – video at link
Gim Gichun (l) and Jo Yunseon (r)
The figures at the centre of the National Cultural Centre’s so-called “blacklist”, Gim Gijun and Jo Yunseon, have been simultaneously detained. Gim was previously the Blue House [ie Presidential] Chief Secretary and is thought to have been the plan’s instigator while Yun is the Cultural Centre’s Secretary. Today (the 21st) Bak Yeongsu, part of the special prosecution team, said that Chief Secretary Gim and Secretary Yun have been detained under suspicision of having used their influence abusively and of having committed perjury. At 3:40pm, arrest warrants were issued for Gim and Yun. Seong Changho, Chief Prosecutor at the Seoul Jungang prosecutor’s office, revealed that “there are concerns about evidence being destroyed.”
Yun has now become the first incumbent minister to be saddled with disgrace by the special prosecutor. Other high-ranking public officials who have had arrest warrants issued include former Secretary of the Ministry for Culture and Sport, Gim Jongdeok, Undersecretary Jang Gwanju from the Culture Centre and Shin Dongcheol, Secretary to the President for Political Affairs, along with Gim and Yun, making a total 5 people who have been arrested.
Gim held a role as the Presidential Chief Secretary from August 2013 until February 2015. During that period it is suspected that Gim drew up a list of cultural figures and artists who had expressed criticism of President Bak Geunhye’s administration. He is also under suspicion of having required resignation from members of his staff who did not want to cooperate with the blacklist. Both Gim and Yun are alleged to have perjured themselves by having given false testimony regarding the blacklist during a National Assembly investigation hearing.
It’s understood that both Gim and Yun deny the allegations against them. The Public Prosecutors’ Office has designated these alleged offences as serious and anti-constitutional, crimes which have infringed on free thought, free expression and the media. Drawing up and managing blacklists and intervening in the cultural and arts fields threatens the core values of free democracy.
The special prosecuting team said that the blacklist was bolstered to over 10,000 names thanks to criticism from people from all walks of life of the government’s weak response to the Seweol ferry disaster, which occurred on the 16th of April 2014.
Analysis: The Choi Sunshil affair continues to decimate the Korean establishment – it’s beginning to appear as if there’s no corner of Korean public life which will remain untainted. This particular allegation will be particularly damaging for Bak Geunhye’s adminstration as it amplifies the concerns around illicit government usage of cultural assets during the 2012 election, when teams of government-sponsored netizens flooded social media sites with comments supporting Bak and attacking her opponents. Expect Gim and Yun to be sacked and receive suspended prison sentences if convicted, along with a purge of pro-Bak personages within the various ministries and departments which have been implicated.