Seok-hong Kim

Hello everyone, I’m very happy to share my thoughts on freedom of speech in Korean theatre for young audiences.

Today is a very special day in Korea—it’s the presidential election day. This election comes after the impeachment of the previous president, who declared martial law last December without any legal or democratic basis. I also participated in the protests calling for impeachment. I was especially proud to see so many young Korean women leading the demonstrations. So, I think today is the perfect day to talk about freedom of speech in TYA in my country.

When we talk about freedom of speech, we can see varying levels of restriction. Some are quite distinct, while others are hidden or indirect. South Korea is one of the fastest-growing industrialised countries in the world. Since the end of the military dictatorship in the early 1990s, we have enjoyed freedom of speech in many areas. But in the field of TYA, we still face limits. For example, it is very difficult to create a TYA performance about LGBTQ issues in Korea. If a theatre company makes a show on this topic for children aged 5 to 12, they might get a strong backlash. Some parents or right-wing groups could boycott the show or even protest to shut it down. This kind of topic is still a big taboo in Korean TYA. I think this is also true in other East Asian countries, like Japan and Taiwan. This is a clear example of how freedom of speech can be restricted.

Another important example comes from a few years ago. We had a big scandal in the Korean arts scene—it was called the “blacklist scandal.” At that time, the government didn’t use open censorship. Artists were allowed to speak freely, but the government secretly punished those who were critical. They made a list of artists who spoke out against the government and quietly blocked them from receiving public funding. In a capitalist country like Korea, cutting off funding is a powerful way to control artists. This kind of hidden restriction is even worse than direct censorship. I believe the blacklist system, or whitelist system, hasn’t fully disappeared yet. It may still work in secret, or even unconsciously.

Finally, I want to talk about another kind of restriction—one that is less visible but just as serious. This is the pressure on children and young people in Korea. There is no rule or law that stops them from going to the theatre. But many children and teenagers feel they cannot go because of a heavy focus on academic achievement. After school, they have to go to private academies for extra study. This system, based on competition and meritocracy, makes it hard for them to find time to enjoy arts & culture. The pressure even starts in the lower grades of primary school. This is another form of restricting freedom of expression—the right of children to play, explore, and experience creative activities like theatre.

These are the challenges we face in Korean TYA, and I believe they are important to discuss when we think about freedom of speech for children and young people around the world.

Thank you.

Aglaia Pusch

1 – We went through a right-wing government that simply extinguished the Ministry of Culture, showing how little it valued arts & culture. As a result, what little structure and programmes we had were interrupted. And the current government has not yet been able to recover what once existed.

2 – The municipal and state governments, to which we are directly linked, are right-wing governments that are constantly interrupting programmes previously established by regional cultural offices. In the field of education, in which we are closely involved, government efforts aiming to transform schools into civic/military models increasingly hinder the activities of cultural groups. In this way, the potential of students to engage in arts & culture is effectively diminished, especially in schools located in the poorer areas of our city.

3 – The growth of evangelical churches in our cities, particularly in the peripheral and poorer regions, has been a major obstacle to the work of cultural groups in schools and communities.

4 – The erasure of our cultural memory is a growing practice and has contributed to hindering the work of many cultural groups in our city and in our country.