Park Jinyoung, Co-Chairperson of the Presidential Committee for Popular Culture Exchange, spoke out about JYP Entertainment's application for the trademark of the K-pop awards ceremony "FANOMENON" and the controversy surrounding his "unpaid" status, just a day before his attendance at the parliamentary audit.
Appearing on SBS Radio's Kim Tae-hyun's Political Show on October 6, Park said, "The hardest part of doing this work is not having issues pointed out. Pointing out issues is fine—if it is a mistake, you apologize and fix it, and if it is a misunderstanding, you clear it up. The hardest part when doing this kind of work is having your sincerity doubted." He added, "We put forward the goal of pursuing the public interest, but when our sincerity is doubted, as if the actual purpose is pursuing private gain, it becomes too difficult."
Previously, People Power Party lawmaker Bae Hyun-jin raised issues via social media on September 25, stating, "After raising the issue regarding JYP's exclusive application for the FANOMENON trademark, they stated they would transfer it to the event corporation. It is still unclear why they did it that way in the first place." She demanded Park's attendance at the audit, saying, "The position of Chairperson, which carries ministerial rank, is created for a 'public interest purpose,'" and "You will need to explain directly to the public whether this is preferential treatment or a den of iniquity." In response, Park will attend the parliamentary audit of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as a witness on October 7, and will also hold a separate official reporting session on the day of the audit.
Regarding the suspicion surrounding the trademark, Park explained on the Political Show, "This costs a lot of money. It costs 40 million won domestically and at least 600 to 700 million won overseas. Once it is announced, if someone else registers it, we cannot use it. We need to register it quickly, and our company has a team that does this. I registered it with my own money first, and intended to hand it over once a person in charge was assigned." He cut off, saying, "The strength of this project is that four companies have united. If our company holds the trademark, who would cooperate? There is no room for doubt that JYP would keep this trademark while doing this."
In response to criticisms that the dedicated corporation receiving the trademark is also a joint venture by the four major entertainment agencies, meaning private entities would ultimately hold the rights to a state-funded project, he acknowledged that it was "a very valid point." However, Park explained that after reviewing government-led versus private-led options, he decided on a private-led approach for reasons of agility and flexibility. Instead, he explained that the trademark is shared fifty-fifty with the government to prevent it from drifting toward private gain, and that a contract containing three clauses for maintaining public interest was signed between the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the corporation established by the four major agencies. Park explained that event costs are covered by the private sector, while next year's government budget of 15 billion won will be used exclusively for areas necessary to maintain public interest, such as supporting small and medium-sized enterprise booth participation.
Regarding the so-called "unpaid" controversy, he said, "At first, I didn't know I was receiving it." Lawmaker Bae disclosed committee data on September 29 showing that Chairperson Park had received about 2 million won per month in duty-performance expenses from last November to August of this year, with the total amount paid exceeding 20 million won so far. This contradicted Park's previous remarks on broadcasts and elsewhere, where he stated, "If it were a full-time position, I would get paid, but I said I would do it part-time," and "I do not receive an annual salary."
Addressing this, Park emphasized, "Since it was said to be unpaid, I can just say I won't take it and return it. Honestly, I have an even stronger desire to do so." He added, "If I don't receive it, however, the next person might be asked, 'Park Jinyoung didn't take it, so why are you taking it?' making it difficult for anyone to do this work. This is the core reason I came out today, and the system where the public and private sectors can work together has not yet been established."
The controversy surrounding his overseas business trip was also mentioned in the same context. In early September, the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee took issue with Chairperson Park combining personal business schedules during an official business trip to the United States, giving a "caution" notice to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to clearly separate official and personal schedules. Park explained, "When I tried to handle company business while doing government work, it caused an uproar. They told me to go do government work, return to Korea, and then go out again. If we do it this way, nobody will do this work. I knew it would be a problem, but I did government work and company work together."
Park also explained why he volunteered to attend the parliamentary audit as a witness rather than a reference person. He said, "I was told that reference persons do not take an oath, so there is no probability of being indicted for perjury. Therefore, I asked to attend as a witness, where there is a probability of being indicted," adding, "I felt that you would only believe me if I could be punished for perjury."
The National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee adopted Park as a witness for the parliamentary audit during a plenary meeting on September 29. At the time, Committee Chairperson Lee Jae-jung stated, "Co-Chairperson Park Jinyoung expressed his intention to attend directly through this chairperson this morning."
(Photo: Yonhap News) (Reported by Kang Kyung-yoon, SBS News & Entertainment)
※
Copying, redistribution, and unauthorized use in AI training are strictly prohibited.