S. Korean culture minister in custody over artist blacklist
SEOUL: A South Korean court on Saturday issued an arrest warrant for the country’s culture minister over her alleged role in the creation of a supposed blacklist of dissident artists.
By issuing the warrant, the Seoul Central District Court acceded to the prosecution’s request to arrest Cho Yoon-sun on charges of abuse of authority and perjury, and particularly for having created a list of around 10,000 artists, writers and entertainers critical of the South Korean administration in a bid to deny them state grants, Efe news reported.
Judges also decided to allow the arrest of the former presidential chief of staff, Kim Ki-choon, who may have authored the list.
Investigators believe the list to have been another instrument within the coercion and extortion web allegedly orchestrated by Choi Soon-sil, the woman at the centre of the national-level corruption scandal and who has been dubbed the “Korean Rasputin” for her proximity to President Park Geun-hye.
The court ruled in favour of keeping Cho and Kim in police custody, saying the charges were substantiated, and there was a risk of them destroying the evidence, according to Yonhap NewsAgency.