(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporters Lim Soon-hyeon and Lee Tae-soo = Co-Chairman Jin-young Park of the Popular Culture Exchange Committee actively refuted the criticism that the global K-pop festival 'Paenomenon' is a preferential treatment for certain entertainment companies.
Chairman Park, who appeared as a witness at the audit of the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee on the 7th, responded to the point that Panomenon only gives preferential treatment to the four major entertainment companies that host events, saying, "This is a project that was started with the sacrifice of several years of the four companies as collateral."
Panomenon, to be held in December next year, is a large-scale private event that combines K-pop concerts, fandom awards ceremonies, and exhibition and experience programs of K-culture companies. The four major K-pop entertainment companies, including Hive, SM, YG, and JYP Entertainment, will participate in hosting the event.
The name of the event was created by combining the words 'Fan' and 'Phenomenon' with the meaning of 'phenomenon caused by fans'. The intention is to view fans not as mere consumers but as partners who actively participate in the spread of K-culture.
Chairman Park said, "During the Panomenon event, if the representative singers of the four companies did not do this and performed separately, they would make double or triple the profits. It was very difficult to make them sacrifice this. I prayed to YG, I prayed to SM, and I prayed to Hive. (These companies) will suffer losses worth tens of billions of won in the next few years."
He continued, "However, after seeing the long-term vision and because of the spin-off effect this will bring to our country and the effect it will spread to other industries, we all made a big decision to do it. What I am saying clearly is that if we do not hold this event and each company has its singer perform at that time, we can make much more money. So it is a bit unfair to say that we are receiving preferential treatment."
Regarding the background of Panomenon being led by private agencies, Chairman Park explained, "The Popular Culture Exchange Committee decided that after planning and coming up with ideas between the government and private companies, the implementation would be sometimes government-led and sometimes private-led depending on the nature of the project. We reached the conclusion that it was appropriate for the Panomenon awards ceremony and festival to be led by the private sector due to the nature of the project."
He also revealed that Hive, SM, YG, and JYP had created a separate event corporation to prepare for the event led by the private sector.
Chairman Park said, “For the first time, the four major K-pop agencies established one company, contributing the same amount of capital and having the same voting rights.”
In addition, Chairman Park responded to the point that Panomenon is an attempt to promote the regime, saying, "I am not the president, but even if a person above the president comes, I will not do it if I think it is not for the good of our country. I am not the type of person to be scared when someone tells me what to do. If this (panomenon) goes well, it will be a really good thing for our country. It is a precious opportunity that our sons, daughters, and nephews can all benefit from. Please believe us."
He also said, "(I'm) absolutely not the kind of person who does this for a certain president or the Democratic Party. I've never even thought about it like that."
He also explained in detail the point that JYP Entertainment, to which Chairman Park belongs, exclusively applied for the overseas trademark rights for Panomenon.
Chairman Park said, "I was afraid that someone would take this (trademark), so I tried to do my best, so I ended up using various methods. I think it was an unusual method."
He also said, "Still, it's very rewarding. I spent a lot of (personal) money," and emphasized, "(The trademark rights) will not remain with our company (JYP Entertainment)."
On this day, Chairman Park also mentioned the purpose of accepting the co-chairmanship of the Popular Culture Exchange Committee, mentioning the advancement of his singer Wonder Girls into the United States and the first K-pop group to enter the Billboard 'Hot 100'.
He diagnosed, "Thanks to the blood, sweat, and tears of our artists and fans, it has now become not uncommon for our artists to frequently rank first on the Billboard. It has now become common to attract 50,000 or 100,000 audiences at the largest concert halls. However, I have come to share the idea that K-pop has reached its limit in gaining global popularity."
He explained, “When we were thinking about how to join forces to build a system and platform together to take it to the next level, we received a proposal from the government (Popular Culture Exchange Committee) and we decided to work together.”
Regarding the reason for holding the Panomenon in December, Chairman Park said that the decision was to give it the feel of an awards ceremony to summarize the year.
He said, "The awards ceremony is the (most) important thing at the Panomenon event. I have a Nobel Prize in my head, and I tried to create an awards ceremony to give awards to the K-pop fandom. I thought it would be much better to do it in December as a way to wrap up the year."
He continued, "As our popular culture has gained global influence, I cannot say it grandly as patriotism, but K-pop singers have also developed a sense of mission. Since this is the first public-private collaboration, there will be a lot of trial and error, but I will do my best so that K-pop can be praised for doing good things for our country."
