Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Opens 'Artist Rights Protection Center'..."Will Strongly Protect Artists"

The 'Artist Rights Protection Center,' which protects artists from unfair contracts, power abuse, sexual harassment, and more, is being launched.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 19th, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism opened the 'Artist Rights Protection Center' in Jung-gu, Seoul, in collaboration with the Korea Artist Welfare Foundation. This center serves as an integrated channel to protect artists from rights violations.

Following the enforcement of the 'Act on the Status and Rights of Artists,' the Ministry established the 'Artist Rights Protection and Sexual Harassment/Sexual Violence Relief Committee' in January and has been reviewing and deciding on various rights violation reports, including the 'Gomusin' case, through the Rights Protection Committee.

The opening ceremony was attended by Minister Yoo In-chon of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Park Young-jung, CEO of the Korea Artist Welfare Foundation, and representatives from various cultural and artistic organizations.

Minister Yoo said, "By opening the 'Artist Rights Protection Center,' we expect to broadly protect artists from rights violations," adding, "The Ministry will continue to strongly protect artists when rights violations such as unfair contracts occur and will do its best to prevent such violations in the future."

The Artist Rights Protection Center supports the entire process from counseling and reporting rights violations to relief measures. Artists who have suffered rights violations can report online through the 'Artist Sinmungo' or visit the center directly. Once a case is received, it is investigated in the center’s investigation room. After the investigation is completed, the Ministry reports the results to the Rights Protection Committee, which deliberates and decides on case closure, dispute mediation, or corrective orders.

The center also provides customized rights protection education tailored to different artistic fields and target groups. It offers a reporting window for written contract violations and a legal consultation space to create a fair contract environment.

Since the enactment of the Artist Rights Protection Act, 205 reports have been filed through Artist Sinmungo. Among these, 89 cases have been processed, including 31 corrective orders, 20 dispute mediations, 5 corrective recommendations, and 10 pre-action compliance cases. Nine cases are under review by the Rights Protection Committee, and 107 cases are under investigation.