Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Holds Meeting with Management Associations and Organizations
Gathering On-Site Voices to Improve Working Conditions
The government is concretizing improvements to the entertainment labor environment. It will first gather voices from the field to prevent issues such as settlement disputes between Lee Seung-gi and his former agency (Hook Entertainment) from recurring.
On the 9th, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism held a meeting with associations and organizations in the entertainment management sector to collect opinions on improving the working environment in entertainment. This is a follow-up measure to the "Protection of Rights and Interests of Workers in the Entertainment Management Sector," jointly promoted with the Ministry of Employment and Labor. They listened to opinions on labor environment improvements from the Korea Entertainment Producers Association, Korea Management Federation, Korea Entertainment Management Association, and others. They also explained the results of labor inspections conducted last year by the Ministry of Employment and Labor. The inspections uncovered 43 basic labor order violations across twelve related companies, including failure to prepare employment contracts, failure to issue wage statements, and non-payment of holiday work allowances.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism plans to promote four major initiatives this year to prevent recurrence: a survey on the current state of the popular culture and arts industry, revision of the "Popular Culture and Arts Industry Development Act," establishment and revision of standard contracts in the popular culture and arts sector, and strengthening ethics education for workers in the popular culture and arts planning industry. A ministry official stated, "We plan to reflect the results of the meeting in policies such as the establishment of standard subcontract contracts and strengthening education on labor-related laws."
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