"Even After Reporting, I'm Furious"... Delayed Payments and Forced Contracts

Infringements on artists' rights, such as delayed profit distributions and coerced unfair contracts, continue to occur without interruption.

According to data submitted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to Representative Jin Sun-mee of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, a total of 1,012 cases of rights violations were reported from September 25, 2022, when the Artist Sinmungo (reporting center) system was introduced, to August 31 of this year.

By year, the number of reports increased annually: 43 cases in 2022, 169 cases in 2023, 194 cases in 2024, and 316 cases in 2025.

This year, 290 cases were filed up to August.

With the average monthly reports reaching 36.3 cases, the total is projected to exceed 400 cases by the end of the year.

By type, refusals, delays, and restrictions on profit distribution accounted for 581 cases, or 57.4 percent, making up more than half.

This was followed by 156 cases of other unfair disadvantageous modifications, 63 cases of coerced unfair contracts, 60 cases of sexual harassment and sexual violence, 39 cases of interference, direction, or obstruction of artistic activities, and 32 cases of infringement on freedom of expression.

By field, the entertainment sector had the highest number with 260 cases, followed by the fine arts sector with 197 cases and the music sector with 157 cases.

In particular, reports in the entertainment sector reached 101 cases by August of this year, already surpassing the total number of reports from last year.

While reports are increasing, the processing of cases has been delayed.

As a result, critics point out that the reporting processing system must be improved to provide prompt relief.

According to data from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, out of the total 1,012 reports, 642 cases (63.3 percent) were submitted to the Artists' Rights Protection and Sexual Harassment/Violence Victim Relief Committee and processed, while the remaining 370 cases (36.6 percent) are still under investigation.

The average processing time per case was found to be 366.6 days.

Among the 642 processed cases, only 27 cases (4.2 percent) were concluded within 3 months, while 269 cases (41.9 percent) took between 6 months and 1 year, and 251 cases (39.1 percent) took 1 year or more.

The reasons cited for the slow processing of cases included a shortage of assigned investigators, unreachable parties, requests for suspension due to ongoing separate relief procedures, and supplementary documentation.

Representative Jin Sun-mee stated, "For artists whose livelihoods are threatened because they cannot receive their compensation, a one-year wait is another form of suffering," adding, "The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism must expand investigative personnel and examine the causes of delays at each stage of case processing to ensure prompt victim relief."

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.