[imText1]The Future Culture Forum (representative Bok Geo Il) which advocates liberalism, criticizes leftist cultural politics and is active in controlling creative arts has been gaining much interest since its launch last 21st.
The 93 members of the culture forum who advocate that they will protect creative arts from figures of leftist government politics in 8 areas including literature, plays, music and art, anticipate the forum to be large scale.
On the 28th I met with Bok Geo Il representative for the Future Cultural Forum. Representative Bok analyzes that the government’s leftist influence is not only threatening cultural art but the society also. He expressed concerns that leftist cultural politics is influencing social art to be mass produced and as a result forfeiting the universality of true creative arts.
In particular, he claimed that the way cultural artists use the word ‘race’ spurns North Korean people and that cooperation with North Korea’s regime is being all distorted. He said “Mixing and cooperating with North Korean people is the true meaning of democracy, but uncommon to our past some cultural artists consider democracy to be cooperating with a North Korean regime which oppresses its people.”
Representative Bok observes that “Yoduk Story,” a musical about North Korea gulags will have large repercussions on society.
“The sunshine policy has become a boomerang and has returned as nuclear weapons”
[imText2]He is currently writing a play “Ground Zero” which reveals how much of a threat North Korea’s nukes will have on Korea. “Like the musical ‘Yoduk Story’ renewed our knowledge on human rights in North Korea, the play will enlighten people’s knowledge on the dangers incited by nuclear weapons,” he said.
Furthermore he said “It is true that cultural artists have been silent on the issue of North Korean human rights though it has solemnly existed” and revealed his aspiration “The Future Cultural Forum will not only make people aware of North Korean human rights issues but will also attempt an array of different methods to make people aware of the nuke issue.”
Regarding the government’s Sunshine policy he said “The essence of the Sunshine policy is a policy that is inevitable to failure” and criticized “If we appease North Korea by supporting it every time it takes an aggressive stance, it will continue to make requests” and explained “We must realize that the Sunshine policy has returned like a boomerang but in the form of nuclear weapons.”
He criticized “If we push to eradicate the Sunshine policy, people exclaim “Do you want to go to war?’ However, people must realize that the nature of the policy is flawed if a war was to break out simply because a policy was abandoned.”
