The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) has urged former festival director Huh Moonyung to cooperate with an investigation in which he is accused of sexual harassment.
Huh resigned from his role at BIFF in May after the festival director role was effectively split in two between Huh and Cho Jongkook, who was given the newly created position of managing director. Shortly afterwards a complaint of sexual harassment by a festival employee emerged, a claim Huh denies.
In an interview with newspaper Ilgan Sports that was published on May 31, “employee A” claimed the Huh had made inappropriate sexual comments and body contact over an extended period. When contacted by the same paper for comment, Huh denied the allegations but said the process of verification would be a “burden” to the festival and reiterated he was too exhausted to stay in the job.
Three months later, with no resolution to date, organisers at the festival in South Korea issued a fresh statement on Tuesday (September 5) to explain that it has appointed an external investigation team – the Busan Counseling Center Against Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault in the Busan Culture and Art Industry Counseling Center – in a bid to “guarantee objectivity and fairness”.
“As the accused has refused to consent to the investigation, the center has conducted an investigation on the victim and testifier,” said the BIFF statement. “At the board of director meeting held on Aug 31, the Busan International Film Festival board of directors has resolved to send an official letter to former festival director, Huh Moonyung, advising him to ‘respond to the investigation responsibly’.
“The film festival plans to conduct a comprehensive investigation, and provide effective preventative education. We sincerely apologize for any controversy caused by the incident. The Busan International Film Festival will do its best to prevent recurrences of such incidents.”
In the wake of the turmoil at the festival, Cho was dismissed in June and programme director Nam Dong-chul was appointed acting festival director and deputy director Kang Seungah named acting managing director. BIFF chairman Lee Yong-kwan also came under fire with accusations he was responsible for the situation, whereupon he also declared he would resign after resolving the issue and seeing this year’s edition out.
BIFF, which remains one of the most significant film festivals in Asia, held a press conference yesterday to unveil the full line-up for its 28th edition, which runs October 4-13. During the online presentation, Nam admitted that the damage to the festival’s reputation had seen sponsors fall away, leading to a reduction of its budget to around $7.45m (KRW10bn).
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