Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) has made a further apology and is introducing practical changes in response to an investigation into the sexual harassment case involving former festival director Huh Moonyung, which resulted in the resignation of three top executives and one dismissal last year.
BIFF is now revising its articles of incorporation to be more stringent about the responsibilities and qualifications of its executives as well as its regulations on the prevention of sexual harassment in the workplace to improve how it deals with any such future occurrences. Scroll down for BIFF’s full statement.
In a convoluted string of events potentially complicated by local and internal politics and personal agendas surrounding the festival, Huh had expressed an intention of resigning before dropping out of contact for two weeks in May last year, during which time then-chairman Lee Yong-kwan drew accusations of mismanagement, supposedly around the hiring of Cho Jongkook as managing director. He also declared he would resign.
Soon after, a former employee of the festival came forward in the press accusing Huh of making inappropriate sexual comments and physical contact – claims denied by the former festival director. In a statement they later made public dated October 26, 2023, the employee said they had come forward “concerned that the same wrongs would be repeated” if Huh returned to the festival.
In June, the festival accepted Huh’s resignation, urged Lee to stay on till the end of the 2023 edition and dismissed Cho while also seeing the resignation of Asian Contents & Film Market head Oh Seok Geun, who implied the “malicious attacks” on the festival and its executives were motivated by less than pure agendas.
The Busan Counseling Center Against Sexual Violence – Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault in the Busan Culture and Art Industry, which carried out the investigation with committees including lawyers as well as arts activists, surmised in a statement yesterday (January 18) that a support system for a sexual harassment case seemed to have been “non-existent” at the festival.
It was critical of the festival’s initial handling of the matter and stated: “It is said that the perpetrator expressed his intention to resign before the incident became public, but after the incident became public, BIFF accepted the perpetrator’s resignation without proper investigation and disciplinary action. This was the biggest obstacle to resolving this case, and ultimately it has become difficult to properly punish the perpetrator. (BIFF has acknowledged this and apologised.)
“Even now, we urge the perpetrator, who was in a high position, to take responsibility appropriate to that position and to sincerely apologise to the victim.”
It welcomed the changes that the festival is now implementing and stated it would be “watching” to see that the festival takes the lead in promoting gender equality. “We support the victim’s courage and will continue to work together to help the victim recover and return to normal life,” it added.
In a batch of attachments to its official statement released to the press today (January 19), the festival shared Huh’s requests to specify publicly that he had not responded to the investigation on grounds that the investigating agency did not have expertise or objectivity and had asked that a law firm or labour corporation be tasked with the investigation, and therefore the conclusions were based only on an investigation of the accuser and witnesses. The festival in its official statement acknowledged his refusal and subsequent refusals to respond to the investigation even after an offer to change agencies.
Huh said: “If there was an instance where something I said unintentionally caused discomfort to the other person, I will accept full responsibility for it. However, the judgment that it was continuous and intentional – in particular, the assertion about my inner will that it was ‘intentional’ – is not a judgment I can accept.
“Since I ultimately stepped down from my position as festival director out of concern about the damage that the controversy about me would cause to the film festival, I have had a time of self-reflection to humbly look back on my life, and I plan to continue to do so for a considerable period of time. I would like to once again apologise to the many people to whom I have unexpectedly caused concern.”
Full statement from the Busan International Film Festival on the result of the Sexual Harassment in the Workplace investigation
On May 31, 2023, the Busan International Film Festival was made aware of the [sexual harassment and assault in the workplace incident] through the media report and received the official report from Deun Deun, The Center for Gender Equality in Korean Cinema, on June 5.
The Busan International Film Festival recognised this case as a ‘sexual harassment in the workplace’ incident that occurred while the Accused was working at the film festival, and entrusted an external specialised organisation, the Busan Counseling Center Against Sexual Violence – Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault in the Busan Culture and Art Industry (hereinafter referred to as ‘Counseling Center’), for an objective and professional investigation.
Following the case investigation and processing procedure, the Counseling Center formed an investigation committee and deliberation committee to conduct the appropriate investigation and deliberation. The investigation committee members included law firm attorneys and labour attorneys from labour corporations. However, the Accused requested the investigation agency be changed to a law firm or labour corporation for guaranteed expertise and objectivity, and did not respond to several recommendations for investigation. Due to such circumstances, the investigation was conducted on the Accuser and the witness[es].
The Accuser expressed their willingness to change the investigation agency and cooperate with the subsequent reinvestigation in response to the Accused’s continued refusal to be investigated, but that also did not come to pass due to the Accused’s refusal.
The investigation committee of this case concluded that it [constitutes sexual harassment in the workplace] on the basis of the Accuser’s specific and consistent statements, and in December 2023, the Busan International Film Festival was notified of the investigation committee’s result, a [serious incident of sexual harassment in the workplace].
After the incident, the Busan International Film Festival conducted a thorough investigation on all employees and took preventative measures through gender equality campaigns and in-depth education for gender sensitivity; and will continue to improve the internal organisational culture to ensure that similar cases do not occur in the future.
In order to achieve this:
First, the Busan International Film Festival will revise the Articles of Incorporation and strengthen the responsibilities and qualifications of the executives to ensure that there are no blind spots in the prevention of sexual harassment, and revised the Regulations on Prevention of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace to advance the reporting and counselling process for sexual harassment in the workplace.
Second, in the event of such an incident, we will do our best to protect the victims by supplementing regulations that provide a protection network and prevent secondary damage.
Third, in order to ensure an equal organisational culture for all genders and responsible processing of a case, we will designate a specialised organisation and mandate grievance counsellors to receive specialised training.
Fourth, we will strengthen practical education for the prevention of sexual harassment and assault for the secretariat according to executive and rank.
We sincerely apologise to the victim that such an incident has occurred in the workplace, a place that should be safe and where gender equality should be upheld. We would also like to apologise once again for the shortcomings in protecting the victim and conducting the initial investigation procedures.
And we apologise to the employees of the Busan International Film Festival and everybody who has supported the Busan International Film Festival for causing disappointment and concern.
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