Moon Jun-yong "The Real Mistake Is Politicians' Thoughtless Remarks"

Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Seoyoung] Moon Jun-yong, a media artist well known as the son of President Moon Jae-in, criticized the controversy over subsidy payments, saying, "What is really wrong is the thoughtless remarks made by politicians."

On the 24th, Moon said this through a post on his Facebook. Moon began by saying, "It seems that many people find it unfamiliar to buy art pieces with tax money, so I will explain a bit more," adding, "There are many people who are not interested in art, but there are also many citizens who love art museums." He explained, "Why do we operate art museums with tax money? It is to cover all costs, including the artworks, with taxes and to charge the audience only a minimal fee," adding, "As a result, the admission fee paid by visitors is around 2,000 to 3,000 won."

Media art artist Moon Jun-yong raised his voice in rebuttal against the claims of politicians.
[Photo by Moon Jun-yong, Facebook capture]

Moon said, "There are many public exhibitions, and I also participate in one of them," adding, "But I have nothing to say to those who say that my work should not be purchased with tax money." He continued, "Exhibiting in a museum for money is my job, and if that makes people uncomfortable, there is nothing I can do," expressing his feelings by saying, "I can only work hard."

Moon also pointed out, "What is really wrong is the thoughtless remarks politicians make to criticize me." He rebutted, "If you mention financial independence or private contracts regarding Jiban Art Museum, how scared would artists be? The Park Soo-keun Art Museum probably has at least 200,000 to 300,000 visitors annually, but when politicians say strange things, it directly hinders the development of the museum and discourages tourist attraction."

He added, "Don't talk about art subsidies during the COVID-19 situation," and said, "For artists, it is a great joy to comfort people exhausted by COVID-19." Moon said, "The 70 million won I received and the total exhibition budget of 1 billion won are actually very insufficient amounts," adding, "These days, popular private art museums use dozens of video equipment worth 70 million won each and have budgets exceeding several billion won." He then said, "This is us 'dissing' each other," sarcastically adding, "Private experts look down on it. It is an utterly insufficient amount to serve citizens who have visited private art museums."

Earlier, it was revealed that Moon was allocated a total budget of 70.89 million won for submitting the 'Hidden Picture Search' artwork to the Park Soo-keun Children's Art Museum exhibition project under the jurisdiction of Yanggu County Office, Gangwon Province. In response, the People Power Party criticized that Yanggu County, which has the lowest financial independence rate in the country at 8.1%, allocated 70 million won to Moon through a private contract with a specific organization out of about 1 billion won. However, on the 21st, Moon explained, "Originally, all artworks are purchased with tax money," and said, "The level of politicians is really pathetic."