Moon Joon-yong wrote just 4 lines of corona damage and received 14 million won in support

Jun-Yong Moon. [연합뉴스]

It has been confirmed that President Moon Jae-in’s son Jun-yong, 39, submitted a four-line description of the damage when he received 14 million won from the Seoul Foundation’s “Corona 19 Accident Emergency Art Support Project”. At that time, many of the applicants who described the damage in more detail than Mr. Moon were excluded from the support, and the opposition party raised suspicion that it was “privileged support”.

According to data submitted by Congressman Sangdo Gwak on the 9th from the Seoul Foundation for Cultural Affairs under the Seoul Metropolitan Government on the 9th, there were 281 teams in the visual field who applied for the Corona 19 damage support fund last year. Among them, 46 teams were selected for the actual application, and the competition rate reached 6.1 to 1.

However, as a result of investigating all the documents confirming the damages of these applicants, 215 teams (91.5%) out of the 235 teams who were eliminated reported more details than Moon. Of course, the Foundation’s explanation is that it was not just the amount of description to judge the damage. However, Kwak argued that “there was a problem in receiving the subsidy through a four-line statement, as the amount of subsidies at the time was dependent on the size of the corona damage.”

At the time when the receipt of the Moon’s grant was controversial in December of last year, the foundation said, “Using an additional budget of 4.5 billion won, a total of 254 art organizations (persons) were selected to provide emergency subsidies, and Mr. Moon was one of them.” “Poverty or livelihood It was not a hardship, but a support project to relieve the damage from the suspension of artistic activities.” He added, “We selected (Mr. Moon as the target of support) on the basis of the three exhibition cancellations due to the corona and the adequacy and validity of the project.”

Confirmation of Corona 19 damage submitted by Jun-Yong Moon to the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture [국민의힘 곽상도 의원실 제공]

In the’Specific Damage Details Description’ of the confirmation of damage, Moon said, “It is expected that a total of three exhibitions will be canceled so far, and it is expected that the situation will continue to be uncertain whether various exhibitions planned this year will be postponed or cancelled. In particular, the Asia Hotel Art Fair, which was scheduled in February, was canceled just a week ago, resulting in significant losses. Opportunities to sell works have been lost, and it is impossible to recover production costs for various works produced for the canceled exhibition.” In the subsidy application, he wrote, “I am expected to be recognized internationally as an example of pioneering art that combines new cultural technologies.”

Based on these submitted documents, Moon scored 85.33 points, ranking 34th in total, and was included in 46 teams for application. It was also selected for 36 teams that received the highest amount of support, 14 million won.

What is controversial is that there are a large number of applicants who have been eliminated even after recording the damages in more detail than Mr. Moon. In the case of applicant A, a graph comparing January 2020 before the corona damage and February 2020 after the start of the damage was drawn and attached, and the expected performance expected on Arbor Day and Children’s Day is specified in detail. I wrote down the facts of the damage but were eliminated. Applicant B, who runs a social enterprise that discovers and fosters disabled artists, also recorded the damages of one and a half sheets of A4 paper, such as clearly organizing the damage status in a table, but was also not eligible for support. C applicants who completed more than 100 lines of application were also rejected, and D applicant, who is a media art worker similar to Moon, said, “Selling equipment to add to the cost of living”, but was not eligible for the application.

Rep. Kwak pointed out that it could be controversial even when viewed based on the number of damages, not the amount of descriptions of the damage. Mr. Moon wrote as a case of avoiding three exhibition cancellations, including ▶ February Asia Hotel Art Fair Busan Media Special Exhibition ▶ April Guryongpo Art Factory (Geumsan Gallery) solo exhibition ▶ June Open Media Art Festival in Jordan. However, according to Kwak’s office, which analyzed the Foundation’s data, 31 teams complained of four or more damages, including lectures and seminars, among the total rejected. Even when looking at those who failed due to exhibitions and performances only, 11 teams complained of four or more damages. In the same way as Moon, 25 teams were eliminated even though they suffered 3 damages only through exhibitions and performances.

Cases that were excluded from support even though the details of the damage were described [국민의힘 곽상도 의원실 제공]

Rep. Kwak Sang-do said, “Even though the small artists who were confined to the pitfalls wrote closely, they would have corrected and corrected whether there were any missing parts, or if there were any errors.” Said. He added, “Mr. Moon’s words that’Seoul City has properly chosen the person’ is a ridicule for applicants who were forced to drop out after writing down the application documents all night long.”

Mr. Moon previously wrote on his Facebook page when the subsidies were controversial, saying, “The city of Seoul has chosen a person who can properly spend (subsidies)” and “My work has been recognized since the past, even if it is not the son of the president.”

◇Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture “Evaluate by a separate deliberation standard” = The Seoul Foundation for Cultural Affairs publishes explanatory data and says, “The confirmation of the damage is a reference material that only confirms the fact of the damage regardless of the amount or form of description. It is not included in the review criteria to determine whether or not.” At the same time, three criteria for deliberation were presented: the appropriateness and feasibility of the project (20 points), the competency and execution capability of the project (60 points), and the performance and contribution of the project (20 points).
Regarding the argument by Kwak that’only 36 of the total applicants received the highest amount of support, 14 million won, and Jun-Yong Moon was included in those 36′, he said, “The largest support fund in the field of visual arts was 15 million won, but the support benefits to many. It was decided by the Deliberation Committee to collectively adjust it to 14 million won so that it can be returned, and to support the requested amount if the application subsidy falls short.” Accordingly, 36 people, 78% of the applicants, received 14 million won. It is explained that 22% of people (22%) applied for an amount less than 14 million won, such as 13 million won and 6 million won, and received support according to that amount.

Reporters Heo Jin and Choi Eun-kyung [email protected]