FIM

Korea’s National Opera Choir was dis­man­tled in 2009 by deci­sion of the con­ser­v­a­tive gov­ern­ment of Lee Myung-​Bak, a deci­sion whose arbi­trary and unjus­ti­fied nature has since been brought to light.

Ten years after the event, cer­tain choir mem­bers are still fight­ing to be rein­stat­ed, but are com­ing up against ret­i­cences from the admin­is­tra­tion which car­ried out their dis­missal in 2009 and today fears hav­ing to rec­og­nize its past errors.

Korea’s National Opera Choir was found­ed in 2002 to pro­vide the insti­tu­tion with a choir to match its rep­u­ta­tion and ambi­tions. Acclaimed by the press, this high-​level ensem­ble took part in some 80 spec­ta­cles a year, and also gave numer­ous con­certs through­out the coun­try and abroad. Highlights includ­ed a series of per­for­mances in 2003 of a Franco-​Japanese-​Korean pro­duc­tion of Carmen under the direc­tion of Myung-​Whun Chung and “A match made in Heaven” in Germany, Japan and Korea in 2008.

The deci­sion to dis­band the choir was tak­en on the dual pre­text of exces­sive cost and reg­u­la­to­ry incom­pat­i­bil­i­ty, two argu­ments that were both inval­i­dat­ed by an audit car­ried out in 2011.

In 2009, the choir’s annu­al oper­at­ing cost was 300 mil­lion wons (approx­i­mate­ly €230,000) for a glob­al opera bud­get of 4.3 bil­lion wons (3.4 mil­lion euros) increased to 10 bil­lion wons in 2011. Given that the Opera has to have recourse to choirs by the very nature of its pro­grammes, the fact of giv­ing up a per­ma­nent choir offer­ing very low salaries could only have a mar­gin­al effect, or no effect at all, on the institution’s over­all economy.

The deci­sion to dis­band the choir was tak­en on the dual pre­text of exces­sive cost and reg­u­la­to­ry incom­pat­i­bil­i­ty, two argu­ments that were both inval­i­dat­ed by an audit car­ried out in 2011.

In addi­tion, the National Opera Choir put on numer­ous pro­duc­tions at offi­cial events, at the request of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and was even award­ed a dis­tinc­tion dur­ing the Daegu fes­ti­val. Against this back­drop, the argu­ment of a reg­u­la­to­ry prob­lem does not hold water.

Five years after the dis­missals, the Korean Parliament decid­ed to allo­cate a bud­get of 200 mil­lion wons (€160,000) to rein­state the last four cho­ris­ters still fight­ing to have their rights rec­og­nized. The four artists were recruit­ed under fixed-​term con­tracts in an inde­pen­dent enti­ty –the National Choir– with the promise of mak­ing them per­ma­nent mem­bers after a year, but this promise was not respect­ed and the four artists are today once more unem­ployed. Nevertheless, the National Choir still con­tin­ues to ben­e­fit from the allo­ca­tion decid­ed on by Parliament.

Three of the unjust­ly dis­missed cho­ris­ters are still fight­ing, with the sup­port of the KCTU-​KPTU union organ­i­sa­tion, to obtain from the gov­ern­ment of Moon Jae-​In that the com­mit­ment to respect the work­ers be trans­lat­ed into action: it is not just a case of set­ting right an indi­vid­ual prej­u­dice, but also a ques­tion of respect for all artists who devote their work and tal­ent to dif­fus­ing the arts and cul­ture for the ben­e­fit of all Koreans.

FIM sup­ports the artists of the Korean National Opera Choir unfair­ly deprived of employ­ment and urges the Korean gov­ern­ment to rein­state them as soon as possible.