Cho Yoon-sun was arrested on Saturday morning on charges of abuse of authority and perjury after police obtained a warrant issued by the Seoul Central District Court, Yonhap news agency reports. In issuing the warrant, the court said that her crime had been “verified and there were concerns over the destruction of evidence.”
The 50-year-old is accused of drafting a list that blacklisted cultural figures such as actors, painters, poets, and musicians. Once on the list, the individuals were denied government subsidies.
In October, South Korean daily newspaper Hankook Ilbo revealed that the South Korean government blacklisted 9,473 artists, including the winner of the Man Booker International Prize (2016), author Han Kang, and director Park Chan-wook, who won the grand prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2004.
The culture minister, who assumed office last autumn, is the first sitting minister ever to be arrested, Reuters reports.
Besides arresting Cho, the prosecutors investigating the wider Park scandal also issued an arrest warrant for former presidential chief of staff Kim Ki-choon.
