Traditional Music Association's Non-regular Members "Suspicious of the Ministry of Culture's Intent in Pointing Out National Director's Monopoly"

"The criticism that a specific school has monopolized the position of the National Gugak Center director for 30 years stems from a lack of understanding of the facts. Rather, it is suspicious that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, which is the appointing and recommending authority for the director, pointed this out, as they should be fully aware of this fact."

The Emergency Countermeasure Council on Current Issues of the National Gugak Center held a press conference on the 25th at a restaurant in Jongno-gu, Seoul, to express their stance on the recent conflict with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism regarding the appointment of the National Gugak Center director.

Yoon Miyong, representative of the Emergency Measures Council for Current Issues in the Korean Traditional Music Community (fourth from the right), is speaking at the "Press Conference Opposing Government-Controlled Administration of the National Gugak Center" held at a restaurant in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the 25th.
Photo by Yonhap News

The National Gugak Center has been without a director for 10 months since former director Kim Young-woon stepped down upon the expiration of his term in June last year. Although there have been gaps of about 2 to 3 months in the past, this is the first long-term vacancy since the establishment of the Gugak Center. In May last year, ahead of Kim’s term expiration, the recruitment process for the next director was underway, and two figures from the Gugak community were shortlisted as final candidates, but the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism did not recommend any candidate, stating there was no suitable person. In December last year, during the re-recruitment process, it was confirmed that a high-ranking official at the director level from the Ministry had applied, which caused strong opposition from the Gugak community. The Gugak community suspects a preselection and argues that the official is not an expert in traditional arts and therefore not suitable to serve as the director of the Gugak Center.

Regarding this, recently Minister Yoo In-chon pointed out that the logic that only Gugak experts should serve as the director is outdated, and specifically criticized that the Seoul National University Department of Gugak has monopolized the director position for the past 30 years. The Emergency Countermeasure Council explained that the criticism of Seoul National University’s monopoly is due to the fact that conditions were not conducive for candidates from other universities to compete for the director position.

Former director Kim Young-woon explained at the press conference, "The first Gugak department in Korea was established at Seoul National University, admitting its first freshmen in 1959. The second Gugak department was at Hanyang University in 1972, and the third was at Ewha Womans University in 1974." In other words, since the Seoul National University Gugak department was established first and other university Gugak departments were established later with a time gap, it was inevitable for composers from Seoul National University to hold the director position for a while.

The Emergency Countermeasure Council argued that considering the time gap and the precedent that directors were usually in their late 50s to 60s, the period when competition between Seoul National University and other universities became possible was after 2015. Even after 2015, all three directors of the Gugak Center were graduates of Seoul National University’s Gugak department.

In response, former director Kim explained, "I understand that candidates from other universities also applied for the director position, but they did not pass the strict personnel screening process."

Former director Kim also stated that the monopoly issue of Seoul National University Gugak department graduates is a matter that will naturally be resolved over time. Regarding this, he explained that among the directors of the three regional branches of the National Gugak Center located in Busan, Namwon, and Jindo, who could be considered candidates for the next director, only one is a graduate of Seoul National University’s Gugak department.

Former director Kim emphasized that he has never claimed that only Gugak majors should become the director of the Gugak Center. He explained that the Ministry of Personnel Management set various qualification requirements for the recruitment, such as a doctoral degree holder needing more than 7 years of relevant experience and a master’s degree holder needing more than 10 years of experience, and that people who believed they met these qualifications applied. He added that these recruitment requirements were set by the government, not requested by the Gugak community.

Kim Un-yeong, former director of the National Gugak Center (third from the left), is speaking at the "Press Conference Opposing Administrative Control of the National Gugak Center" held on the 25th at a restaurant in Jongno-gu, Seoul.
[Photo by National Gugak Center Emergency Countermeasure Council]

Regarding the claim that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism cannot intervene in the appointment process of the Gugak Center director, former director Kim refuted this. He pointed out, "According to the announcement procedure related to the appointment of the Gugak Center director by the Ministry of Personnel Management, the affiliated minister recommends candidates, and the appointment procedure until the final appointment is directly conducted by the agency (Ministry of Personnel Management)." In other words, the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism recommends candidates for personnel screening to the Ministry of Personnel Management.

The Emergency Countermeasure Council recently labeled the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s series of actions related to the National Gugak Center as bureaucratic administration. They opposed the unilateral plans of the Ministry regarding the appointment of an administrative official as the National Gugak Center director and the organizational restructuring of the Gugak Center. At the same time, they presented three major demands: ▲ conducting a re-recruitment for the director appointment ▲ sufficient consultation with the Gugak community ▲ cessation of malicious 'divide and rule' tactics that aim to sow division in the Gugak community through distortion of facts based on the biased perception of Ministry officials.