{"id":31984,"date":"2017-01-21T07:50:09","date_gmt":"2017-01-21T07:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/south-korea-minister-arrested-over-artist\/"},"modified":"2017-01-21T07:50:02","modified_gmt":"2017-01-21T07:50:02","slug":"south-korea-minister-arrested-over-artist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/south-korea-minister-arrested-over-artist\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korea: Minister arrested over ‘artist blacklist’"},"content":{"rendered":"

{Culture Minister Cho Yoon-sun accused of helping target artists critical of impeached President Park Geun-hye.}<\/p>\n

South Korea’s culture minister resigned after being arrested for allegedly creating a “blacklist” of nearly 10,000 artists who voiced criticism of impeached President Park Geun-Hye.<\/p>\n

Cho Yoon-Sun – the first minister in active service arrested in South Korea – is accused of creating the vast catalogue to starve the artists of government subsidies and private investment, and place them under state surveillance.<\/p>\n

The list’s existence sparked widespread anger, raising the spectre of Seoul’s 1960-80s army-backed rule – including under dictator Park Chung-hee, the impeached leader’s late father – when news, the arts, and entertainment were heavily censored.<\/p>\n

Shortly after her arrest, Cho tendered her resignation, which was immediately accepted by Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-Ahn, Yonhap news agency said.<\/p>\n

The Seoul Central District Court said it issued a warrant to arrest Cho on charges of abuse of authority and perjury following a request from prosecutors.<\/p>\n

The court also ordered an arrest warrant for Kim Ki-choon, a powerful former chief of staff for Park. Kim is accused of ordering Cho to create the list of “left-leaning” artists.<\/p>\n

Kim, 78, a former top intelligence official, came under fire for his alleged involvement in human rights abuses committed under Park’s father.<\/p>\n

“Charges are verified … and there are risks of the accused seeking to destroy evidence,” a court judge said in a statement issuing the warrants for Cho and Kim.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors questioned Cho and Kim as part of their probe into a wider political scandal involving Park and her secret confidante, Choi Soon-sil, who is currently on trial for abuse of power and coercion.<\/p>\n

Park stands accused of colluding with Choi to coerce top local firms, including Samsung, to “donate” nearly $70m to non-profit foundations Choi allegedly later used for personal gain.<\/p>\n

Park was impeached by parliament last month and Seoul’s Constitutional Court is currently reviewing the validity of the motion, with the frequency of hearings sparking speculation it might reach a verdict before mid-March.<\/p>\n

The scandal has seen a number of former senior officials and presidential aides arrested.<\/p>\n

But the Seoul Central District Court this week rejected a prosecution request for the arrest of Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong, who is accused of bribing Choi in a bid to seek governmental favours, citing lack of evidence.<\/p>\n

\"Cho<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{Culture Minister Cho Yoon-sun accused of helping target artists critical of impeached President Park Geun-hye.} South Korea’s culture minister resigned after being arrested for allegedly creating a “blacklist” of nearly 10,000 artists who voiced criticism of impeached President Park Geun-Hye. Cho Yoon-Sun – the first minister in active service arrested in South Korea – is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[101],"byline":[2474],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-31984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-internationl","byline-al-jazeera"],"bylines":[{"id":2474,"name":"AL JAZEERA","slug":"al-jazeera","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"contributors":[{"id":2474,"name":"AL JAZEERA","slug":"al-jazeera","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31984\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31984"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=31984"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=31984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}