SEOUL: A former South Korean culture minister was formally charged on Tuesday (Feb 7) with creating a “blacklist” of nearly 10,000 artists who had voiced criticism of now-impeached President Park Geun-hye, prosecutors said.
Cho Yoon-sun, 50, is accused of secretly compiling the vast list to starve the artists – among them filmmakers, authors, painters and more – of state subsidies and private funding and to put them under state surveillance.
Kim Ki-choon, a powerful former chief of staff for the conservative president, was also indicted for spearheading the creation and enforcement of the blacklist.
Both officials were arrested last month and were charged on Tuesday with abuse of power and coercion, said a team of special prosecutors probing a wider scandal over Park.
“They abused their power to force officials… to stop offering subsidies to artists and cultural organisations that had different views from the government,” senior prosecutor Lee Kyu-chul told reporters.
