Korea's blacklist scandal: governmentality, culture, and creativity

This essay focuses on the relationship between culture and governance, exploring how the practice of government has invoked conflicts and crises in the Korean culture industries. The Park Geun-Hye regime used culture as a central engine to boost Korea's national economy by adopting the new slog...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inCulture, theory and critique Vol. 59; no. 2; pp. 81 - 93
Main Author Kim, Ju Oak
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Taylor & Francis Ltd 03.04.2018
Subjects
Artists
Creative industries
Creativity
Culture
Governance
Governmentality
International community
Popular culture
Scandals
Tourism
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Summary:This essay focuses on the relationship between culture and governance, exploring how the practice of government has invoked conflicts and crises in the Korean culture industries. The Park Geun-Hye regime used culture as a central engine to boost Korea's national economy by adopting the new slogan, 'Creative Korea', to embody the country's national values within the international community. However, the regime's constant emphasis on creative economies came under attack when it was discovered that the Ministry of Culture and Tourism abused its authority by censuring 9,473 artists who were critical of the regime. Through an analysis of journalistic interviews with artists, critics and cultural practitioners, this paper examines how the relationships of governmentality, culture and creativity have been negotiated in the process of regime change. In addition, this paper explores how the Korean Wave phenomenon - the transnational expansion of Korean popular culture - during the past two decades has reshaped the society's perception of the governor-governed relationship within the cultural sphere.
ISSN:1473-5784
1473-5776
DOI:10.1080/14735784.2018.1446837