According to notes taken by deceased former Presidential Secretary Kim young-hwan, Chief Secretary Kim Ki-choon ordered on October 2, 2014 that leftists in culture and arts must be fought against, and again ordered on January 2, 2015 that there was a need to keep track of left leaning film makers and their connections.
Former Culture Minister Yoo Jin-ryong has testified that he has seen the blacklist. He stated that about a month before he left the ministry in July 2014, he received a list of a few hundred names from the President's Office. He also stated that before this, the blacklist existed only verbally, with nothing written.
There were rumors that a list with 9473 actors, writers, artists and others in the culture and arts fields, along with their "offenses" which were mainly supporting the opposition or opposing President Park's administration. It also listed if they received any government grants or support. Most listed no government support.
From a verbal list to a list with over 9473 names. Since 2014, it seems that President Park has censured artists, denied funding, and suppressed anyone opposing her. And this is just the surface. I am sure that it gets much worse.
Joongang Daily: Indie counsel raids search for evidence of culture blacklist
Korea Herald: Key figures in Choi scandal probed
A mysterious citizen investigator, famous in Korea for uncovering evidence in previous scandals including Korean Intelligence Agency's illegal involvement in the previous Presidential elections. claimed that a submarine caused the sinking of the Sewol Ferry and uploaded a video with his theory on the sinking to Youtube in Korean.
On radar during the sinking an object can be seen to the right of the ferry. The authorities said this was an image of freight containers that had been swept off the ship. The citizen investigator says that containers could not have made the image, since they are travelling faster than the ocean currents. He also encourages the military to releases their radar images. At the time, the military said that these images were secret and couldn't release them. Now, they say they do not have the images. It could be something, it could be nothing. But this citizen investigator has not been wrong, so far.
Korea Herald: ‘Submarine crash may have caused Sewol sinking’
