hankyoreh

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By Bang Jun-ho, staff reporter

The Africa Museum of Original Art, which caused a furor by treating its performers like slaves, finally agreed to accept the demands of the African workers. However, it appears that the controversy will not abate because of the lingering issue of legal responsibility for the violations of minimum wage and labor regulations that took place over the three years since the museum was purchased by its current chairman Hong Moon-jong, secretary general for the ruling Saenuri Party (NFP).

“During deliberations with the four workers from Zimbabwe and the eight workers from Burkina Faso, we agreed to all of the workers’ demands,” said Kim Cheol-gi, the new director of the museum, on the afternoon of Feb. 12. Immediately after the talks concluded on Wednesday, former director Park Sang-sun was dismissed from his position.

The new director, Kim Cheol-gi, attended the same high school as Hong and is the vice president of the Korea BBS Central Alliance, a volunteer organization of which Hong is president.

Kim announced that the museum would pay the migrant workers on Feb. 13 around 150 million won (US$141,150) that they were legally entitled to. The back wages the workers ought to have received according to the legal minimum wage amount to around 80 million won for the four workers from Zimbabwe and 70 million won for the eight workers from Burkina Faso. The workers’ daily food allowance of 4,000 won (US$3.76) will also be increased to 8,000-9,000 won, Kim said.

On Wednesday, the museum gave the workers back their passports, installment deposit bankbooks, and flight tickets that it had been holding. The museum also agreed to find new accommodations for the workers to replace their current mouse-infested, hole-filled residences. “Today, we acquired one house with three rooms, and we will look into the other rooms as quickly as we can,” Kim said.

The performers felt a sense of relief. After getting back his passport, Amidu, 32, from Burkina Faso, said, “Before, it felt like I was in prison, but I feel like I’ve been freed. Now, I think I’ve found the real Amidu.”

“It’s just great that we finally seem to be treated fairly,” said Willy, 30, who is from Zimbabwe.

“The next time they bring in artists from other countries, I hope that they respect them,” said Emmanuel, 34, from Burkina Faso.

Wednesday’s agreement took place suddenly through the intervention of the Eujiro Committee of the Democratic Party, which was formed in May 2013 to protect the rights of vulnerable people against their employers.

“The human rights of the African workers were violated, but fortunately the issue was resolved speedily,” said lawmaker Woo Won-sik, chair of the Eujiro Committee. “The Euljiro Committee will continue watching to make sure that the points that were agreed to are implemented properly.”

But not all of the problems have been addressed. Hong - the museum chairman who signed the employment contract with the workers - made a false statement denying allegations of slave labor, but he has not offered an official apology. The agreement on Wednesday concluded with the dismissal of Park, the former director, instead of Hong.

Park is a professor at Kyungmin College in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Provionce, where Hong is the chairman of the board. In other words, both the former and current directors of the museum are close confidantes of Hong.

Another issue that remains is who will be held legally responsible for the museum’s violations of laws. “There were around 10 violations of the law,” said Democratic Party lawmaker Eun Su-mi.

When asked on Wednesday about labor exploitation at the museum, the Uijeongbu office of the Ministry of Employment and Labor indicated that it was looking into the situation but that it had not begun an official investigation since no charges had been filed.

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]