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On Thursday the government appointed new people to head the National Museum of Contemporary Art and the National Center for Traditional Korean Performing Arts. Both are from Min Ye Chong, the Korean National Artist and Cultural Federation, which position-wise is in tune with this government¡¯s ideas about ¡°reform.¡± Last January, one cultural figure, advertising himself as part of the push for reform, openly declared that ¡°establishment elements like Ye Chong [the Federation of Artistic and Cultural Organizations of Korea] should be kept from even getting their feet in the door, and Min Ye Chong members should be forward-deployed in their place [in all government appointed positions].¡± Well, that¡¯s exactly what you see happening.
The government spared no effort in getting its man placed at the National Center for Traditional Korean Performing Arts, and went as far as to change the membership of the judging committee, filling it with members of Min Ye Chong. When one applicant for the position protested about the biased composition of the committee, Culture Minister Lee Chang-dong said that ¡°dividing the arts and cultural community by those who are in Ye Chong and those in Min Ye Chong is a dangerous idea.¡± But the fact of the matter is that it¡¯s the government leading the way in this divisiveness. And Minister Lee himself says, ¡°If I had to choose, I¡¯d say I¡¯m personally closer to being Min Ye Chong.¡±
It is the area of culture and the arts that this government¡¯s attempt to fit everything to its liking is most nakedly apparent. There¡¯s the newly formed Ministry of Culture and Tourism advisory body - the ¡°Cultural Administration Reform Committee¡± - and then the Korean Culture and Arts Foundation, the Culture and Tourism Policy Research Institute, the Korean Film Archive and other related organizations, all full of people from Min Ye Chong. Forget questions about their qualities and abilities ? you wonder if anyone¡¯s ever thought about what it will do to the country¡¯s cultural development to paint the landscape with people of the same coloring.
As we have seen time and time again in historical experience, art that is subordinate to power is relegated to the level of political propaganda and tools for agitation. During the Liberation Years (immediately following Liberation from Japan), artists and cultural figures split along the lines of left and right, then fought each other in a fierce struggle that left a painful legacy. Just what kind of cultural heritage ever came from art that was for the sake of something else, that viewed the other guy as something to ¡°topple,¡± and that raged with hate? And looking at how those who once styled themselves as the Resistance now hold power over cultural activity firmly in their grip while dividing everyone up according to their own people¡¯s court prescriptions, one can guess that there are more than a few people having flashbacks to the earlier nightmare.
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