The Busan International Film Festival has apologized for its mishandling of the resignation of its executive director Huh Moon-young and related sexual harassment allegations.
“We sincerely apologize over the sexual harassment case that occurred in the workplace,” BIFF said in a Korean-language statement on Thursday. (A festival spokesperson said that an English-language statement, along with an update, will be issued in the coming days.)
Huh has publicly denied the allegations, though he has not replied to email and telephone requests for comment by Variety.
“We will faithfully conduct an internal probe in line with the Center for Gender Equality in Korean Cinema’s recommendations and come up with a system to prevent recurrences,” the festival said.
Huh announced his resignation on May 11, just days after the festival announced that it would create a joint managerial position and appoint Cho Jong-kook, a close friend of festival chairman Lee Yong-kwan, as managing director. Huh’s resignation was not immediately accepted and two industry guilds threatened to boycott the festival in support of him.
Festival chairman Lee said that he would resign to take responsibility for the mess caused by Cho’s appointment and the appearances of cronyism. But initially, the festival’s board refused to accept his departure and Lee has now backtracked. He will not step aside until after this year’s October edition.
The festival then announced on May 31 that Huh was resigning for “personal reasons” and formally accepted his departure on June 2.
However, by that time Korean-language media had reported that a festival staff member had made a sexual harassment claim against Huh and taken it to the Center for Gender Equality in Korean Cinema, aka DeunDeun.
The festival appeared to acknowledge the allegations in a statement it issued to Variety shortly afterwards.
“BIFF will abide by the procedure provided by the Center for Gender Equality in Korean Films, where the allegation was reported, and plan to discuss future plans of the festival based on the internal regulations and rules regarding such guidelines,” a festival spokesperson said in emailed communications. “There is no confirmation of the exact facts and [Huh] has denied all claims so far.”
According to Korean media reports, Huh has not only denied the sexual harassment allegations, he has said instead that he is departing in order reduce any possible negative impact on this year’s festival.
The festival, Asia’s largest and most prestigious, is scheduled to be held Oct. 4-13.
“This year’s festival will be led by program director Nam Dong-chul on behalf of [the] vacant festival director,” a Busan spokesperson told Variety earlier this month. “For this year’s successful festival, chairman Lee will maintain his position until the end of the festival. He will take on the full responsibility of the current situation and resign after the completion of the festival.”
Nam is an experienced programmer and has previously worked at both Busan’s festival and market sides. While fulfilling the role of festival director, Nam will not be given the title of interim director.
