Geochang County Council Overturns Executive's 40 Million KRW Subsidy Allocation in Budget Committee
Some Council Members and Civic Groups Claim "Rumors of External Pressure"
[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Soon-kyung] The ‘International Theater Festival’ in Geochang-gun, Gyeongnam, regarded as South Korea’s representative outdoor performing arts festival, resumed last year after a four-year hiatus and is scheduled to be held this July. However, a major commotion arose in the county council over whether to provide subsidy support.
According to Geochang-gun on the 20th, the county council passed a proposal to provide a subsidy of 40 million won to the Geochang Theater Festival Promotion Association at the final plenary session of the 268th extraordinary meeting on the 18th.
This proposal was rejected 3 to 2 among members of the General Affairs Committee. However, it was revived in the Budget and Accounts Committee with 6 votes in favor, 3 against, and 1 abstention.
After this proposal was ultimately passed in the plenary session, the committee members who participated in the Budget and Accounts Committee and civic groups reacted strongly.
County Councilor Kim Hong-seop raised suspicions, saying, “There are rumors that external pressure was applied in the approval of the 40 million won subsidy budget allocation to the Geochang Theater Festival Promotion Association,” and then raised his voice, saying, “The executive branch that allocated an inappropriate budget and the county council that approved it must reflect on themselves.”
The civic group ‘Together Geochang’ claimed, “The Geochang Theater Festival Promotion Association caused a lawsuit controversy over the trademark rights of the ‘Geochang International Theater Festival’ and has a history of depleting county finances by selling the trademark rights for about 1.02 billion won.”
The civic group said, “It is surprising that the executive branch allocated a budget of 40 million won to this organization,” and added, “It is difficult to understand this from the sentiment of the county residents that the executive branch, well aware of this situation, is providing financial support again just about a year after the lawsuit ended. We cannot help but have doubts about what exactly happened,” and they are demanding that the Geochang County Council disclose the contents of the budget adjustment meeting.
The Geochang International Theater Festival originated from the ‘October Theater Festival’ in October 1989. The event gradually developed and was renamed the ‘Geochang National Theater Festival’ at its 6th edition in 1994, and from the 7th edition in 1995, it expanded into an international theater festival. Starting from the 10th edition in 1998, when it began receiving support from Geochang-gun, it was reborn as a summer festival.
Subsequently, in 2017, the festival split into two due to a ‘trademark rights conflict’ between Geochang-gun and the Geochang Theater Festival Executive Committee. In the following year, 2018, the Geochang International Theater Festival was held under the name of the Geochang Theater Festival Executive Committee. The festival was not held for three years from 2019 to 2021 due to COVID-19, and last year, after four years, the ‘32nd Geochang International Theater Festival’ resumed by recruiting Park Sang-won, chairman of the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, as the organizing committee chairman.
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