'I’ve never once thought, even for a second, that I was working for President Lee or the Democratic Party,' J.Y. Park says at National Assembly audit

[Financial News] Singer J.Y. Park, who serves as co-chair of the Presidential Committee on Popular Culture Exchange, appeared as a witness at the National Assembly’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee audit on the 7th and said, regarding the global K-pop festival “Paenomenon,” “I’ve never once thought, even for a second, that I was working for the president and the Democratic Party.”
Park was appointed co-chair of the Presidential Committee on Popular Culture Exchange last October. The committee’s music division plans to hold the “Paenomenon” event next December with four domestic K-pop agencies—HYBE, SM, JYP and YG Entertainment. The opposition has raised allegations of preferential treatment for the four major agencies and issues concerning the “Paenomenon” trademark, among other concerns.
That day, the opposition referred to a photo of Park and President Lee Jae-myung taken during Lee’s visit to Mexico and said, “We were concerned that the public might think, ‘Has Chairman Park taken their side?’ and that this could put him at a disadvantage.”
In response, Park said, “I’ve never thought that I was working for President Lee, and I’ve never once thought, even for a second, that I was working for this administration and the Democratic Party. I’m doing this because I think it will really benefit the next generation.” He stressed, “Even if someone above the president came along, I wouldn’t do it if it didn’t seem to be for our country.”
Addressing claims that the four major agencies were receiving preferential treatment, he explained, “This is a project that is being launched on the back of several years of sacrifice by the four companies. The leading artists from those companies could earn twice or three times as much if they didn’t do this (Paenomenon) and performed separately. It was very difficult to ask them to make that sacrifice.”
He added, “Still, looking at the long-term vision, as well as the ripple effects this will bring to our country and the effects that will spread to other industries, everyone made the big decision to go ahead.”
Asked about claims that JYP Entertainment, to which Park belongs, had exclusively filed for overseas trademark rights to “Paenomenon,” he responded, “I think we were afraid someone might take this (trademark) away, and that, as we tried to handle it as well as we could, at least in terms of our intentions, we ended up using various methods. I think it was not a normal way to do things.” He continued, “Even so, it’s very rewarding. I did spend quite a lot of my own money,” and added, “The trademark rights won’t end up staying with our company (JYP Entertainment).”
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