National Assembly Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee Cuts National Museum of Korea Budget in Rebuke Over Yu Hong-jun Controversy; PHANOMENON Budget Also Slightly Trimmed

[Financial News] The National Assembly Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee has cut part of the National Museum of Korea’s budget, it has been confirmed. The cut is seen as a reprimand over the controversy surrounding former director Yu Hong-jun’s “self-submission” of calligraphy by a pro-Japanese collaborator. Of the 15 billion won budget related to the K-pop festival PHANOMENON, which opposition parties had repeatedly raised during the previous National Assembly’s audit period, only 300 million won was cut.
According to the National Assembly on the 13th, the committee held a plenary meeting on the 11th and approved the 2027 budget bill. People Power Party lawmakers all walked out ahead of the budget vote.
The committee cut 41 million won from the 1.01 billion won allocated for “academic research in archaeology, art, history and other fields” in the National Museum of Korea’s operating budget. The move was intended to take into account responsibility for the controversy over former director Yu’s self-exhibition of a collection piece by a pro-Japanese collaborator.
Earlier, former director Yu resigned voluntarily, taking responsibility for the controversy over his self-exhibition of “Ilban Siguk-eun,” a calligraphic work by Pak Chungyang, who is known as a pro-Japanese collaborator. The work was introduced as calligraphy by independence activist Park Won-geun, but was ultimately confirmed to be by pro-Japanese collaborator Pak Chungyang and removed from the exhibition. The revelation that Yu himself had owned and recommended the work caused an uproar.
At the time, former director Yu said at the National Assembly committee’s audit on the 19th of last month, “Feeling ashamed as an art historian, I let it pass with the dishonest thought that I hoped people would just overlook it,” adding, “I am ashamed and truly deeply regret it.”
Meanwhile, controversy has grown after it recently emerged that, while serving as head of the Cultural Heritage Administration (now the Korea Heritage Service), former director Yu had “self-registered” the “Old Wall of Bangyo Village, Buyeo” as a cultural property. The old wall is the wall surrounding Huhu-dang, Yu’s home, and was designated a cultural property in 2006, just two months after the house was completed, during his tenure as head of the Cultural Heritage Administration.
The committee also cut 300 million won from the budget related to PHANOMENON. The government allocated about 15 billion won in its 2027 budget proposal for tourism promotion and support for small and medium-sized enterprises participating in exhibition booths, among other things. Of this, 100 million won was cut from the 6.1 billion won “Support for SME Participation in PHANOMENON-Linked K-Culture Companies” program, and 200 million won from the 1.2 billion won “Creating a Welcoming Atmosphere for Foreign Tourists at Major Events” program.
The “Support for SME Participation in PHANOMENON-Linked K-Culture Companies” program supports K-culture businesses taking part in trade-fair events linked to PHANOMENON. The committee said the program provided excessive financial support for a one-off private-sector project and that the basis for calculating booth costs was unclear. It also decided to cut the budget after concerns were raised that benefits could be concentrated among certain recipients because duplicate support for combined booths was allowed. The committee also decided to reduce the budget for “Creating a Welcoming Atmosphere for Foreign Tourists at Major Events,” saying its functions overlapped with programs such as “Attracting and Welcoming Foreign Tourists Through K-Content.”
PHANOMENON is a project being pursued by the Popular Culture Exchange Committee and the country’s four largest entertainment agencies, and has been dubbed the “Korean Coachella.” People Power Party lawmaker Bae Hyun-jin has repeatedly raised concerns that the Korea Tourism Organization and the Korea Creative Content Agency, among others, had allocated budgets that overlapped with funding for indirect promotion of PHANOMENON. Bae said, “It is a risky gamble to allocate more than 120 billion won all at once to PHANOMENON, for which no specific project plan has yet been released,” and urged, “Please conduct a full review of the project in accordance with the budget formulation guidelines.”
The People Power Party considers the budget cuts insufficient and plans to push for further reductions through the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts. A People Power Party member of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee said, “The Democratic Party opposed it, so the cuts amounted to just 300 million won,” adding, “I believe the amount should have been cut by much more.”
[email protected] Lee Hae-ram Reporter