The Korea Music Copyright Association (Chairman Choo Ga-yeol, hereinafter KOMCA) Chairman Choo Ga-yeol attended the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (hereinafter CISAC) Asia-Pacific Commission (hereinafter APC) meeting held in Beijing, China, from Oct. 29 to 30, where he personally explained the circumstances and measures taken regarding recent misconduct allegations involving senior association officials and expressed a commitment to improvements for preventing recurrence and ensuring transparent operations.
The meeting, hosted by APC, one of CISAC's regional commissions, was attended by representatives of 30 copyright organizations from 17 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, who shared global copyright issues and each country's policy agendas and discussed ways to cooperate.
Ahead of the APC meeting, CISAC said it was important to directly share with sister organizations in the Asia-Pacific region "a sufficient explanation and clarification of the recent misconduct allegations involving KOMCA's senior management," and added, "this will serve as an opportunity to further strengthen KOMCA's leadership and sense of responsibility within the CISAC community," officially recommending Chairman Choo's attendance.
Accordingly, Chairman Choo attended the meeting on the 29th and provided a detailed explanation of the facts of the matter and plans for future measures. He said, "This incident was an individual deviation by certain employees and did not affect the association's overall work or operations," and added, "the association already manages collection and distribution procedures based on systematic internal controls and computerized systems, so members' rights protection and settlements are proceeding without disruption."
He went on to say, "Immediately after learning of the incident, we convened an emergency board meeting to suspend the involved parties from their duties, and we are checking for problems through a special investigative committee and an internal special audit, and we plan to sincerely cooperate with any external investigations to come," and emphasized, "we will take this as an opportunity to adopt 'transparency,' 'responsibility' and 'ethics' as the three core values of organizational management and become an association that members and creators can trust."
A KOMCA official said, "Chairman Choo's attendance at this meeting was an official schedule to transparently share the circumstances and measures taken regarding the recent incidents within the association as a CISAC board country and to solidify trust with Asia-Pacific organizations," and said, "At that time, CISAC requested an on-site explanation from KOMCA because remarks that could not be verified were made in the Korean National Assembly regarding the Music Copyright Society of China (MCSC), raising concerns that they might affect copyright cooperation between the two countries."
It added, "CISAC also repeatedly and formally urged Chairman Choo to explain the circumstances of the recent misconduct involving some senior staff and his commitment to preventing recurrence, and taking into account that the person involved in the matter is scheduled to appear before the National Assembly Culture, Sports, and Tourism Committee for a comprehensive audit to provide explanations, Chairman Choo prioritized an international explanation to fulfill his responsibilities as a CISAC board country," and said, "the claim that the trip to China was for the purpose of avoiding the parliamentary audit, raised at the comprehensive audit of the National Assembly Culture, Sports, and Tourism Committee held on the 29th, is completely untrue."
Meanwhile, the meeting was also a venue where KOMCA announced its determination to reform the organization and achieved meaningful results on the international stage. KOMCA Director General Park Su-ho of Business Division 2 was elected vice chair of CISAC APC, further raising the international standing of Korea's music copyright industry. Director General Park will participate in determining APC's main policies and operational directions for the next three years and will lead cooperation and exchange among copyright organizations in the Asia-Pacific region.
Director General Park Su-ho said, "I believe this recognition by the international community reflects a high evaluation of Korea's copyright management system and capabilities despite the fact that suspicions have been raised about internal association matters," and added, "as APC vice chair, I will expand cooperation with organizations from each country and work to ensure that creators' rights and interests are fairly protected in the global market."
KOMCA plans to continue efforts to restore trust with the international community and to ensure transparent organizational operations following this meeting. KOMCA said, "We will responsibly conclude this matter and become an association that members, creators and the international community can trust," and added, "we will strengthen cooperation with CISAC and Asia-Pacific organizations to contribute to the healthy development of the copyright environment."<
[Photo] Provided by KOMCA
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