Bae Hyun-jin: "I'm a fan of JYP artists, but we need to look into this... We will call Park Jin-young in for a parliamentary audit"

[Financial News] Bae Hyun-jin, a People Power Party lawmaker, said she would call in Park Jin-young, co-chair of the Presidential Committee on Popular Culture Exchange under President Lee Jae Myung and chief producer of JYP Entertainment, for a parliamentary audit.
On the 25th, Bae said on Facebook, "I have no choice but to bring JYP and Co-chair Park Jin-young before the parliamentary audit."
She said, "After I raised concerns that JYP, Park Jin-young's company, had filed exclusively for the trademark rights to the government's mega-scale performance project being promoted by the Presidential Committee on Popular Culture Exchange under President Lee Jae Myung, JYP stated that it 'plans to transfer them to the event corporation.' But it remains unclear why it was done that way in the first place, when it will happen, and whether anyone even considered whether that was appropriate."
The issue concerns the trademark rights to the global K-pop festival '2027 Fanomenon' (FANOMENON), scheduled to take place in December 2027. The event is a mega-scale global festival being jointly organized by the Presidential Committee on Popular Culture Exchange and major K-pop agencies in South Korea. It is scheduled to run for 11 days in Seoul, Goyang and other locations. The Korea Culture & Tourism Institute expects the event to attract 200,000 overseas tourists and generate about 1 trillion won in economic benefits.
TV CHOSUN previously reported that the festival's trademark had been filed by JYP Entertainment, the company of co-chair Park Jin-young, rather than by the Presidential Committee on Popular Culture Exchange. It pointed out that although the domestic trademark rights would be shared with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST), JYP Entertainment had secured the overseas trademark rights on its own. The broadcaster argued that it was inappropriate for a private company to own the overseas trademark rights to a festival funded by the government budget.
In response, the Presidential Committee on Popular Culture Exchange said, "JYP Entertainment is currently taking the lead in filing for Fanomenon's overseas trademark rights in order to secure them quickly in foreign markets." It added, "We plan to discuss and finalize the specific division of rights after the overseas filing process is completed."
It continued, "JYP Entertainment initially filed for the trademark rights and subsequently transferred a 50% stake in those rights to MCST, converting the arrangement into a joint application in order to establish the public-private partnership structure that was the project's original purpose." It explained, "The remaining stake held by JYP Entertainment is also scheduled to be transferred in full to a dedicated corporation to be established in the future to carry out the event itself."
Bae said, "Co-chair Park Jin-young's ministerial-level position was created for the public interest. The public has never tolerated officials using public funds for overseas trips and engaging in private business, so this needs to be investigated."
She continued, "You must explain directly to the public whether this is preferential treatment or a den of corruption, as many in the popular culture sector have pointed out and feared." She emphasized, "We hate unfairness more than anything." She added, "For the record, I am a fan of several singers under JYP."
[email protected] Kim Su-yeon Reporter