"Concerns Over Reduction of Research Functions
in National Gugak Center's Organizational Restructuring by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism"
Former directors and heads of the Korean Traditional Music Research Office at the National Gugak Center have formed an emergency council to address current issues at the National Gugak Center and issued a statement on the 6th demanding the withdrawal of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's appointment of a senior official to the position of director of the National Gugak Center. They also expressed concerns about the Ministry's ongoing organizational restructuring of the National Gugak Center, warning that it could reduce the Center's research functions and degrade it into a mere performance organization.
The emergency council pointed out that rumors are widespread that a senior official from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has been appointed as the director of the National Gugak Center, and that through parliamentary questions and answers, it was confirmed that the official applied for the director position. In this regard, on the 5th, during the full meeting of the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, Lee Ki-heon, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, inquired about the Ministry's senior official appointment rumors in relation to the National Gugak Center's reapplication process for the director position initiated in January.
The emergency council also noted that regarding the reapplication process for the director position, the National Gugak Center's director has traditionally been a cultural and artistic professional with expertise in Korean traditional music and performance through an open recruitment system. However, the law was hastily amended at the end of December last year to allow administrative officials to apply and be appointed, after which the director recruitment proceeded.
The emergency council emphasized that the National Gugak Center already has a senior administrative official, the Planning and Operations Director, who supports the director?an expert in the cultural arts field?and efficiently coordinates the work between the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the National Gugak Center. The director is a traditional culture expert, and the Planning and Operations Director is an administrative official, effectively managing the Center. Therefore, the emergency council insists that the Ministry's appointment of a senior official to the director position must be withdrawn for the development of our traditional culture and performing arts.
The emergency council also expressed concerns about the current organizational restructuring direction of the National Gugak Center being carried out by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. They pointed out that this restructuring could reduce and dismantle the Center's research functions, turning it into a simple performance organization.
The National Gugak Center is responsible not only for performance but also for education and research on traditional music, operating through two department-level organizations: the Planning and Operations Division and the Korean Traditional Music Research Office.
According to the emergency council, the Ministry is currently relocating the Instrumentation Division and Stage Division, which are under the Planning and Operations Division, to the Korean Traditional Music Research Office, and transferring the education and research functions and personnel of the Research Office to the Instrumentation Division, which is a performance department. The emergency council warned that such restructuring by the Ministry could potentially reduce and dismantle the Center's research functions.
The emergency council stressed that the Ministry's stated purpose for the restructuring is to normalize the Research Office's organizational system, but what the National Gugak Center requested for the normalization was the establishment of subordinate organizations within the Research Office. They criticized the current restructuring by the Ministry as a regression, dismantling the research-dedicated organization at the 'office' level and incorporating it into a 'division' responsible for performance production.
Furthermore, the emergency council added that the Instrumentation Division, which is currently a performance department, already has seven research officials assigned, creating a structure capable of professional performance production linked with research, and that it has already achieved considerable results.
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