The Haja Cultural Center where the author of “Woo Young-woo” graduated from was established by Park Won-soon?

Speculations are spreading online that the 12th episode of the popular drama “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” was related to former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon.

A YouTuber raised a related theory on his YouTube channel, which has 1 million subscribers, saying, “It has been revealed that the author of this drama is a graduate from the alternative school ‘Haja Center,'” adding, “Haja Center is an organization founded by former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon.”

In addition, some online articles suggest that the lawsuit which became the main subject of the 12th episode reminds of a lawsuit in which former Mayor Park Won-soon participated as a co-lawyer, and some scenes in the drama are also based on him.

Apart from the part where subjective judgment can be included among these claims, netizens have examined those that can be checked with objective data.

First of all, the claim that former Mayor Park Won-soon established Haja center is not true.

The Haja Center is a job experience center for young people established by the Seoul Metropolitan Government in December 1999, and it was launched as a new concept youth space that combines culture and entertainment at the Southern Working Youth Center in Yeongdeungpo-gu. At that time, Yonsei University’s Youth Culture Center was selected through 10 to 1 competition for the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s public offering project, and it was jointly operated with the Seoul Metropolitan

At that time, the mayor of Seoul was former Prime Minister Goh Kun. Former Mayor Park Won-soon took office as Seoul Mayor in October 2011, which is 12 years later.

Even if he is not the founder, they have checked whether former Mayor Park was involved in the establishment of the Haja Center, but this is also groundless.

The book “Why Youth Now?” co-written in 2002 by Yonsei University Honorary Professor Cho Han-hye-jung, Professor Seo Dong-jin at Gyewon University of Arts, and Yang Sun-young, a professor at Arizona University, details the process of Yonsei Youth Culture Center operating the Haja Center.

In November 1998, after the IMF financial crisis, Yonsei students, cultural critics, and in-school activists who aimed to resolve youth unemployment and foster the cultural industry decided to create a cultural space, due to which Yonsei University agreed to create a youth culture center. Yonsei University’s Youth Culture Center was selected as the consignment operator after submitting a proposal for the operation of the Haja Center in May 1999 at the “Seoul Youth Center Consignment Operation Contest”.

“Why Youth Now?” mentions those who participated in the process of establishing the Haja Center at the time, including Ahn Young-no, Um Ki-ho, Hyun-young, Jung Hyun-joo, and Choi Soo-jung, but there is no name of former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon.

Cho Han-hye-jung, an honorary professor at Yonsei University, said in an interview with Yonhap News that Mayor Park was not involved in the establishment of the Haja Center at all.

At the time, the person in charge of establishing the Haja Center at the Sports and Youth Division in Seoul also confirmed that former Mayor Park had nothing to do with the establishment of the center.

Some argue that the two organizations are related to the “Alchemist Project,” a project to support low-income young people in cooperation with Haja Center in 2010 and 2011.

In response, the Beautiful Foundation said, “A businessman donated to this project to support career education for vulnerable youth,” adding, “The committee selected the Haja Center as a cooperative agency after conducting due diligence evaluations on various organizations, and there is no other project between us and Haja Center.”

Hwang Yoon-ok, head of the Haja Center, also said, “The donor only donated through the Beautiful Foundation, we did not received financial support from the Beautiful Foundation.”

Hwang, head of the center, also added, “The Haja Center has nothing to do with former Mayor Park. I hope that graduates of the Haja Center will not be subjected to unnecessary social attacks due to such controversy.”

It is true that the writer who wrote the script for the drama “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” is a graduate of Haja Center.

Writer Moon Ji-won graduated from Haja Center in January 2003.

Regarding the allegations related to Park Won-soon online, the production team of “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” asked the public relations agency to refrain from speculating, saying, “The 12th episode is also extracted from a case notebook like other episodes.”

Source: dispatch