Appeared as a Witness at the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee Audit on October 7
Established a Dedicated Corporation with Equal Capital and Voting Rights
Jinyoung Park, Co-Chairman of the Committee on Popular Culture Exchange, is responding to lawmakers’ questions during the National Assembly’s audit of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism held on the 7th. Photo by Dongju Yoon
Jinyoung Park, co-chairman of the Committee on Popular Culture Exchange, said that the four major K-pop agencies had established a dedicated corporation with equal capital contributions and voting rights to organize the global K-culture event FANOMENON under private-sector leadership.
Appearing as a witness on Oct. 7 at the National Assembly Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee’s audit of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Park said, “The Committee on Popular Culture Exchange plans and develops ideas between the government and private companies, while deciding whether the government or the private sector will lead implementation based on the nature of each project. We concluded that, given the nature of the FANOMENON awards ceremony and festival, the private sector should lead them.”
The four major K-pop agencies are participating in the dedicated corporation that will oversee the FANOMENON project. Park said, “For the first time, four K-pop companies have established a single company, with each contributing the same amount of capital and holding the same voting rights.” The dedicated corporation will hire its own staff to prepare for and operate the event.
Explaining the background to the event, Park said, “As K-pop grew in popularity around the world, the people leading the four K-pop agencies and I came to share the sense that it was reaching a limit at this point.”
Park also spoke about his experience nearly 20 years ago, when he toured 50 U.S. cities with Wonder Girls to break into the local market. At the time, it was difficult for a Korean artist even to enter the Billboard Hot 100, the U.S. main singles chart. Today, K-pop artists top the Billboard charts and draw tens of thousands of fans to stadiums overseas, he said.
“As we were considering how to join forces, build a system, create a platform, and find a way to take the next step forward, the government proposed that we work together,” he said.
Park rejected claims that the four major agencies were receiving preferential treatment by participating in a government project. “I pleaded with YG, SM, and HYBE to take part,” he said. “They would make much more money by skipping this event and holding concerts featuring their own artists.” He said their participation in the initial stages of the project “involved a commitment to make sacrifices for several years.”
Jinyoung Park, Co-chairman of the Public Culture Exchange Committee, is reporting on work during the National Assembly audit of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism held on the 7th. Photo by Dongju Yoon
FANOMENON will be held for the first time in December 2027 at Seoul Arena in Chang-dong, Dobong-gu, Seoul, and KINTEX in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. The event will feature K-pop concerts, a fan-voted awards ceremony, and exhibition and hands-on programs by K-culture companies. The government plans not to provide a direct budget for the event, which will instead be funded by private sources such as ticket sales, sponsorships, and broadcasting rights.
The issue of FANOMENON’s trademark rights was also raised at the audit. Park, who serves as JYP’s chief creative officer (CCO), drew criticism over preferential treatment after JYP filed first for overseas trademarks for “FANOMENON” and the awards ceremony name “FANDEMONIUM.”
Park explained, “With no dedicated organization in place, JYP, which has experience handling related matters, filed first to prevent another business from securing the trademarks.”
Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Choi Hwi-young had earlier said that JYP would transfer its share of the domestic trademark rights to the dedicated corporation, and that the overseas trademark rights would also be jointly held by the government and the corporation as soon as the filing process was complete.
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“We have gone through many trials and errors in figuring out how the public and private sectors should work together,” Park said. “We will do our best to make this a good example of public-private collaboration.”
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