Yoon Camp: "Why Does Moon Jun-yong, a World-Class Artist, Receive Support Only from Public Taxes?"

A commentary by Deputy Spokesperson Kim Min-gyu, announced by the Yoon Seok-yeol National Campaign Office.
[Photo by Yoon Seok-yeol National Campaign Office Facebook capture]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Seo-young] The campaign team of Yoon Seok-yeol, former Prosecutor General and presidential candidate of the People Power Party, has criticized media artist Moon Jun-yong, well known as the son of President Moon Jae-in, for receiving public support funds.

Today (21st), Yoon Seok-yeol's national campaign Facebook posted a statement by Deputy Spokesperson Kim In-gyu titled, "Public support funds again for Moon Jun-yong! Why does the support continue multiple times, not just once?" The statement began by saying, "It is known that Moon, the media artist son of President Moon Jae-in, exhibited his work in an art museum project supported by Yanggu County Office in Gangwon Province last year and received about 70 million KRW from the local government budget."

The statement explained, "Yanggu County's financial independence ratio is at the nationwide bottom level of 8.1%, far below the national local government average of 45%," and added, "Nevertheless, Yanggu County signed a private contract worth about 1 billion KRW with a specific organization, allocating about 70 million KRW to Moon." It continued, "Regarding support for Moon, the Park Soo-geun Art Museum explained that Moon is well known in the media art world," and added, "When Moon received Seoul city support funds last year, Lee Cheol-hee, Senior Secretary for Political Affairs at the Blue House, defended him as a globally recognized artist."

Media art artist Moon Jun-yong.
Photo by Yonhap News

Furthermore, the statement questioned, "If Moon is truly a world-class artist in the media art field, then why does he only receive support from the people's tax money?" and "If Moon is globally recognized, shouldn't he have some achievements that are evaluated abroad?" and "Should the public accept the Blue House's claim of global recognition without question?" It also pointed out, "Even if not world-class, shouldn't an artist who is well received domestically be able to exhibit works that attract attention without receiving money supported by taxpayers?"

The statement explained, "It is said that the total amount Moon has received from public budgets over the past two and a half years is 201.84 million KRW." It then criticized, "How do artists who have almost no income due to lost exhibition opportunities from COVID-19 feel about this?" and "What about the feelings of self-employed people and small business owners who only receive a few million won from government support funds?"

The statement continued, "There should be no discrimination because he is the president's son, but he should not receive special favors either," and argued, "The public will be curious whether the fact that Moon is the president's son played a role in the support process from local governments and institutions." It concluded, "Isn't it suspicious that such support for Moon has been provided multiple times, not just once?"

Earlier, the office of People Power Party lawmaker Kwak Sang-do revealed that Moon received about 70 million KRW from the local government budget while exhibiting his work in an art museum project supported by Yanggu County Office in Gangwon Province. According to this, when the Park Soo-geun Children's Art Museum in Gangwon Province opened last May, Moon was allocated a total of 70.89 million KRW as the exhibition budget for his media art work "Hidden Picture Finding."