Ministry of Culture Orders Return of 359 Million Won
Korean Publishers Association Files Appeal Lawsuit
"We Will Face Disadvantages to Settle the Dispute"
The conflict between the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Publishers Association over the settlement of profits from the book fair supported by national subsidies has escalated into an administrative lawsuit. The Korea Publishers Association, which organizes the Seoul International Book Fair, announced on the 27th that it has filed an appeal lawsuit (for nullification and cancellation) against the Korea Publication Industry Promotion Agency at the Jeonju District Court regarding the confirmation of profit recalculation and return notification.
The Korea Publication Industry Promotion Agency is a public institution under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Based on the Ministry’s audit results earlier this month, it notified the Korea Publishers Association to return approximately 359 million KRW related to the Seoul International Book Fair projects from 2018 to 2022. Responding with an administrative lawsuit, the Korea Publishers Association stated, "We want to clarify that this is not only procedurally invalid but also substantively incorrect."
As specific grounds, they argued that under the Subsidy Act, the Korea Publication Industry Promotion Agency, as the primary subsidy recipient, does not have the authority to claim subsidy returns from the Korea Publishers Association, which is an indirect subsidy recipient. For the 2018 and 2019 projects, the obligation to return profits was not specified as a grant condition, and there was no notification of profit return during the settlement process. They claimed that the attempt to retroactively apply the related clause newly established by the Korea Publication Industry Promotion Agency in September last year itself violates the rule of law.
On the same day, Yoon Cheol-ho, president of the Korea Publishers Association, held a press conference at Gwanghwamun Square and emphasized, "If we accept the administrative measures led by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as they are, the Seoul International Book Fair will incur deficits every year, and normal execution will become impossible." He said, "We will bear any disadvantages from confronting the administrative authorities to clarify the truth."
On the 14th, visitors at the '2023 Seoul International Book Fair' held at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, lined up at the Slam Dunk booth to purchase limited edition comic books and goods. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism responded, "The recalculation is based on audit results," and rebutted, "We were criticized for recognizing items as self-funded by the Korea Publishers Association that should not have been acknowledged as such."
In August last year, the Ministry requested an investigation by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency regarding accounting issues of the Seoul International Book Fair’s profits involving President Yoon and two others. About two months later, the Korea Publishers Association countersued four Ministry officials for defamation.
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