“We’ll prevent the second ‘Lee Seung Gi incident’ from happening” The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to eradicate unfair practices in showbiz

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will promote a policy to get rid of unfair practices in showbiz and prevent the recurrence of the “Lee Seung Gi incident”.

On January 1st, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Park Bo Kyun said, “We will thoroughly identify and improve expedients and unfair practices in the industry to strengthen fairness in the pop culture and arts industry as the key project this year.”

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism plans to take administrative measures, such as suggesting and ordering correction if a delay in settlements is considered an unfair act under Article 13 of the Artist Rights Guarantee Act through related procedures.

If delays in payments or unfair contracts are confirmed, fines will be imposed according to Article 14 and related facts will be notified to the Fair Trade Commission.

In addition, policies, such as a full-scale factual survey, revision of standard exclusive contracts, and reinforcement of vocational ethics education, etc., will be implemented to strengthen industry fairness and raise singers’ and trainees’ awareness.

Minister Park said, “As K-Culture is receiving global attention, strengthening transparency in the ecosystem of the industry and protecting the weak are more important for the continuous growth of the pop industry”.

Since last year, Lee Seung Gi has been in dispute with Hook Entertainment over his music revenue settlements. The singer-actor claimed of not receiving any penny from Hook for 18 years. After Dispatch reported the case and revealed evidence, Hook paid 4.1 billion won to Lee Seung Gi. However, Lee Seung Gi continued to file a complaint against Hook executives, including CEO Kwon Jin Young.

Source: Dispatch