Culture Ministry looks into corruption at Seoul International Book Fair

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is looking into possible corruption at the Seoul International Book Fair (SIBF), according to the ministry's press release on Monday. The ministry called out both the Korean Publishers Association, the...

Park Bo-gyoon, the minister of culture, sports and tourism, briefs the local press on the actions that the ministry is taking in a bid to create a fairer environment for writers and publishers in Korea, in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on Monday. [NEWS1]

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is looking into possible corruption at the Seoul International Book Fair (SIBF), according to the ministry's press release on Monday.

The ministry called out both the Korean Publishers Association, the host of the book fair, for not properly submitting records of its profits from SIBF since 2018, and the Publication Industry Promotion Agency of Korea, the association's supervisory institution, for allowing such questionable behavior to pass.

When the ministry proceeded with an audit, the Korean Publishers Association apparently failed to fully cooperate.

"Upon requesting bank transactions, the association was unable to disclose all the information, handing in documents with several erased records," the press release read.

Visitors browse for books at the 2023 Seoul International Book Fair which was held last month in Gangnam District, southern Seoul. [YONHAP]

The ministry found that a large portion of the deleted transaction records were likely participation fees received from overseas organizations that came to SIBF. These records were not reported to the Publication Industry Promotion Agency of Korea.

"The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will continue to closely track whether there was a collusion between the Korea Publication Agency and the Korea Publication Agency behind these allegations," the ministry said.

SIBF is the largest book fair in the country and is annually run on some 1 billion won ($780,000) of taxpayers' money. This year's fair was held in June, and some 130,000 visitors, 210 guest speakers and 530 publishers from 36 countries attended exhibitions, seminars and other events like book signings.

The issue of injustice in Korea's publishing industry was brought to the public's attention earlier this year, following the death of “Black Rubber Shoes” cartoonist Lee Woo-young in March who reportedly took his own life due to a copyright battle with his publisher.

The ministry sided with Lee and has since been running investigations and devising institutional arrangements to promote fairer practices in the industry and legally protect up-and-coming writers from being bound to unfair contracts.

BY LEE JIAN [lee.jian@joongang.co.kr]