Singer and JYP Entertainment chief producer J.Y. Park appeared as a witness at a National Assembly audit, where he pushed back against public suspicions surrounding his work with the Popular Culture Exchange Committee.
On the afternoon of October 7, Park attended the National Assembly Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee’s audit of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in his capacity as co-chair of the Popular Culture Exchange Committee. During the session, he was questioned over the trademark application for the massive entertainment project Fanomenon.
Rep. Bae Hyun-jin of the People Power Party questioned why JYP Entertainment, led by Park, had filed for trademark rights related to a large-scale project involving the government before others. She also raised concerns about potential preferential treatment, pointing to projections that Fanomenon, promoted as a “Korean Coachella,” could generate nearly 500 billion won in revenue with the participation of JYP, YG, SM and HYBE, and questioning whether it was appropriate for the four companies to control that revenue.
Park first acknowledged shortcomings in the business agreement and said the matter should have been handled more carefully, adding that he would review such issues more thoroughly going forward.
However, he strongly rejected allegations that the government had simply granted special benefits to private companies.
Park explained that if the leading artists from the four agencies held their own concerts instead of participating in Fanomenon, the companies could potentially earn “two or three times” as much.
He admitted that persuading the agencies to make that sacrifice had been extremely difficult. “I begged SM, I begged YG, and I begged HYBE,” Park said. He added that the companies could face losses worth tens of billions of won over the next several years, but argued that they had made the decision after considering the project’s long-term vision and the potential benefits it could bring to other industries.
Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Choi Hwi-young, who also attended the session, defended the structure of the project. He explained that Fanomenon was not a case of the four major entertainment agencies entering a government project in pursuit of commercial privileges. Instead, he described it as an effort to combine and further leverage the global achievements the companies had already made. He added that the project could not move forward if any one party withdrew and asked lawmakers to take the unusual structure of the initiative into consideration.
Sources: Naver