Moon Jun-yong: "Received 14 million won with a 'four-line application'? Gwak Sang-do, don't lie"

Artist Moon Jun-yong / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Eun-young] Moon Joon-yong, the son of President Moon Jae-in and an artist, has denied the controversy surrounding his receipt of an emergency art support fund of 14 million won, calling the 'four-line application form' claim a "lie."

On the 11th, Moon posted on his social networking service (SNS), stating, "Assemblyman Kwak Sang-do is lying," and pointed out, "My application form is about 20 pages long and includes previous achievements, project details, and expected outcomes."

He continued, "Assemblyman Kwak selectively quoted only the part about the damage in the application form and misused it as evidence of a lie," adding, "Let me say again, this support fund is not to compensate for artists' damages but to support promising artistic activities. The evaluation criteria consist of project appropriateness and validity (20 points), execution capability and performance ability (60 points), and results and contribution (20 points)."

He further criticized, "Assemblyman Kwak knew there were sufficient reasons beyond the damage facts for my selection but concealed them," and "Moreover, he committed the atrocity of disclosing my evaluation scores to reporters. This is a serious defamation and an abuse of parliamentary authority."

Moon also addressed some media outlets, saying, "They are amplifying and distorting only the false parts and spreading them," and requested, "Please stop this behavior."

Damage confirmation letter submitted by artist Moon Jun-yong to the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture. [Image source = Office of Gwak Sang-do, Member of the National Assembly, People Power Party]

Earlier, on the 10th, Assemblyman Kwak Sang-do of the People Power Party revealed that Moon received 14 million won in emergency art support funds last year due to COVID-19 damages, submitting a damage confirmation letter with only four lines to the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture and was selected as a beneficiary.

Assemblyman Kwak criticized by releasing Moon’s damage confirmation letter, stating, "(Moon’s damage confirmation letter) contrasts with other successful applicants who wrote several pages of damage statements."

In the damage confirmation letter written by Moon, it stated, "So far, a total of three exhibitions have been canceled, and it is expected that the uncertain situation will continue, with several exhibitions planned for this year either postponed or canceled," and "Opportunities to sell works have been lost, and it is impossible to recover production costs for several works created for the canceled exhibitions."

Assemblyman Kwak claimed that other applicants presented specific graphs and statistics on the decrease in visitor numbers in their damage confirmation letters but were still excluded from the support, and pointed out, "There is talk in the public that not four lines but just writing 'I, Moon Joon-yong' would have been enough to pass."