HUNDREDS OF SOUTH KOREAN ARTISTS SUE IMPEACHED PRESIDENT OVER BLACKLIST

Hundreds of South Korean artists have filed a lawsuit against impeached President Park Geun-hye and her former aides for denying them financial support and other resources by including their names on a cultural blacklist because of their political beliefs, Jeongeun Lee and Choi Jiwon of Reuters report.

Lawyers representing the artists said that Park and her administration violated the artists’ right to free speech and expression and their right to privacy by collecting their personal information. “Public servants and those who were aware of the existence of the blacklist must be held accountable,” Cho Young-sun, a member of the liberal Lawyers for a Democratic Society group, said. Four hundred and sixty-one artists out of the nearly ten thousand who were blacklisted are currently plaintiffs in the suit. Since South Korea does not award punitive damages, the artists are seeking 1 million won ($873) each.

The culture ministry issued a public apology last month acknowledging the list and its plan to systematically silence artists who have been critical of Park. Former presidential chief of staff Kim Ki-choon and former culture minister Cho Yoon-sun have been charged with abuse of power, coercion, and perjury. A spokesman for the special prosecutor’s office, Lee Kyu-chul, said that both officials have denied all charges.

South Korea has been embroiled in Park’s corruption scandal since allegations emerged in December that Park had allowed her confidante Choi Soon-sil to intervene in matters of state. The controversy led to mass protests throughout the country, which resulted in Park’s impeachment and Choi’s arrest.