South Korea’s special prosecutors are stepping up inquiries into allegations that President Park Geun-hye’s government cracked down on artists critical of her policies and denied them state support.
The prosecutors on Wednesday summoned Kim Sang-ryul, Ms Park’s former senior secretary for education and culture, to look into reports the presidential office kept a blacklist of cultural figures deemed critical of Ms Park’s conservative administration.
It follows raids this week on homes and offices of Ms Park’s close aides, including Cho Yoon-sun, culture minister, and Kim Ki-choon, former presidential chief of staff, after local media reported the existence of a blacklist of more than 9,000 cultural figures.