Kang Yu-jeong, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, gave a briefing at the National Assembly Communication Hall in Yeouido, Seoul last year concerning the ‘Lee Seon-kyun Prevention Law’ and President Yoon Seok-yeol’s comments about “Soju in front of a sea squirt.” [Photo source: Yonhap News]
Recently, there has been a growing call to establish a concrete system for mental care for celebrities, as unfortunate news of young stars who started their careers in the entertainment industry at an early age passing away continues. To address this, a proposal is being pursued in the National Assembly to mandate that entertainment agencies provide their artists with annual humanities education.
On the 21st, Kang Yu-jeong, a member of the National Assembly’s Culture, Sports, and Tourism Committee (Democratic Party), proposed the ‘Celebrity Humanities Education Act (Partial Amendment to the Act on the Development of the Public Culture and Arts Industry).’
Many public cultural artists enter the entertainment industry as teenagers whose values are not yet fully developed. Behind the glowing achievements of the rigorous training foundational to K-culture content lies anxiety stemming from excessive competition during adolescence.
Daniel, a member of the group New Jeans, also mentioned on a live broadcast on the 16th the rules endured during their trainee days, such as taking pictures of food before eating and sending a message before using the restroom. Daniel added that it was “a very harsh time.”
In the cultural and arts sectors, there have been ongoing calls for education designed to protect one’s self and establish internal value standards in environments continuously exposed to media and public evaluation.
The Korea Culture and Tourism Institute’s 2020 publication, ‘Research on Policy Response to the Suicide Problem of Public Culture Entertainers,’ noted that many entertainers experience high stress from excessive competition, the burden of declining popularity, and job instability.
Moreover, as these individuals have a significant social impact on the public, especially the youth, there is an emphasized need for social attention and policy response to protect entertainers’ mental health.
The ‘Celebrity Humanities Education Act’ proposed by Representative Kang requires agencies to provide public cultural artists with humanities education at least once a year.
Representative Kang explained the legislative intent: “Humanities allow for the exploration of the fundamental question ‘Who am I?’ from various perspectives, helping to discover the inherent dignity within. Mandatory humanities education for young public culture artists will help them develop healthy self-esteem and self-affirming values despite being exposed to others’ views and evaluations from an early age.”