[2026 Audit] Choi Hwiyoung: "'FANOMENON' Joint Venture to Be Established by Month's End... Government Involvement to Be Considered"

Trademark rights split 50-50 between government and private sector
Original copy of revised agreement submitted

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Choi Hwiyeong speaks during a comprehensive audit of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Korea Heritage Service and other agencies at the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee on the 23rd. Yonhap News Agency

Choi Hwi-young, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said a joint venture to manage the global K-pop festival FANOMENON would be established by the end of this month.

During a comprehensive audit by the National Assembly's Committee on Culture, Sports and Tourism on the 23rd, Minister Choi responded to a suggestion from Rep. Bae Hyun-jin of the People Power Party that the joint venture should be established before the National Assembly's budget review. "The Fair Trade Commission said last month that the four major entertainment agencies could establish a joint venture, so it will be set up by the end of October."

JYP Entertainment, HYBE, SM Entertainment and YG Entertainment will participate in the joint venture. A revised trademark agreement submitted to the National Assembly that day stipulates that domestic and international trademark rights will be held equally by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the private sector, and that once the joint venture is established, the private sector must transfer its rights to the company. Trademarks that are scheduled to be filed or are already under application will also be transferred to joint ownership. The agreement also includes provisions restricting the use of the trademarks or imposing liability under relevant laws if its terms are violated.

After reviewing the new agreement, Rep. Bae said, "I consider it appropriate, as the issues I raised during the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's audit on the 7th have been faithfully incorporated into the revised agreement." She also called for safeguards to ensure the ministry could have a role in the joint venture's operations.

"The four companies will not be able to use the FANOMENON trademark as they please," Minister Choi said, adding, "We will also look into whether the ministry can become directly involved and play a greater role." When Rep. Yoon Yong-geun of the People Power Party asked why trademark rights for a project being pursued by a presidential advisory body were being shared with the private sector rather than transferred to the state, Choi replied, "It is a public-private partnership platform, so we are doing it together."

Earlier, allegations of preferential treatment emerged after it became known that JYP, the agency of Park Jin-young, co-chair of the Popular Culture Exchange Committee, had filed for the FANOMENON trademarks overseas on its own. FANOMENON is an event scheduled for December 2027 that will combine K-pop performances, a fan-voted awards ceremony and exhibitions.

There was also a dispute over the release of the revised agreement. When the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism showed the agreement on a tablet computer that morning, People Power Party lawmakers demanded that the original be submitted. Rep. Bae criticized the committee, saying it had not responded to communications and only notified her around midnight that the revised agreement had been signed. "They effectively went into hiding," she said.

In response to demands to release the agreement, Minister Choi said, "I believe this is an agreement that is part of an ongoing contractual process," adding, "I will review the request." Kang Su-sang, head of the Popular Culture Exchange Committee's support team, explained the delay in responding: "There was a question during the inquiry about what had happened with the agreement, so we took time to prepare a clear answer."

Minister Choi also countered, "They say they couldn't reach me, but they never contacted me even once." He added, "I am not a figurehead; I am a co-chair," and said, "I have not shut the door on them." The original agreement was subsequently submitted, and members of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee reviewed it on site.

The audit was briefly disrupted over the failure to prepare minutes of the Popular Culture Exchange Committee's subcommittee meetings. People Power Party lawmakers questioned whether the committee's meeting materials qualified as national records and pressed for an explanation as to why some subcommittee discussions had not been recorded. When Lee Jae-jung, chair of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, explained that national records are generally kept confidential, opposition lawmakers objected, and People Power Party lawmakers briefly left the room.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.