Culture Blacklist Verdict

[Anchor Lead]

The court has issued its first verdict regarding the so-called "blacklist of artists" that was created by the Park Geun-hye administration. Former presidential secretary Kim Ki-choon will do time, while former culture minister Cho Yoon-sun has received a two-year suspended sentence.

[Pkg]

Former presidential secretary Kim Ki-choon has been sentenced to three years in prison. After 35 court hearings into seven people who were involved in the creation of the so-called "blacklist of artists," the court has concluded that it was a grave crime that damaged the Constitutional values. The court said that the artist blacklist was created deliberately and included artists from various fields, including theater, cinematography and publishing. The court has recognized the fact that the office of the senior senior secretary for political affairs followed Kim Ki-choon's instructions to sort artists by political orientation and passed down the list to the Culture Ministry, which later executed it. The court found Kim guilty of abusing his power by giving instructions regarding the blacklist and encouraging its creation. Kim had been denying the charges all along by saying that he had never created or seen the blacklist of artists. However, the court did not accept his claims. On the other hand, the court has concluded that there is no solid evidence that former Culture Minister Cho Yoon-sun knew about the artist blacklist or gave her instructions on its creation before taking office. However, she has been sentenced to one year in prison with two years of probation for providing false testimony at parliamentary hearings after receiving a report about the blacklist of artists as a culture minister.