Recently several controversies have swirled around the Korean government's practice of censoring the arts and media, resulting in fairly wide coverage in the world's media. No small part of this was the Pusan International Film Festival's decision to screen the British film, Crash, last year. More recently, a group of Koreans have been trying to organize a gay film festival in Seoul. Last year major changes took place in the laws governing film censorship and are due to go into effect soon.
With the help of Im, Hyon-oek, the film festival's consultant, I was able to find some reliable reference material to develop this article. On October 4, 1996 the Constitutional Court declared film censorship unconstitutional. Until this verdict, the Korean Public Performance Ethics Committee (KPPEC) enforced film censorship. The exact guidelines dictating how a film would be censored varied from generation to generation with increasing amounts of gratuitous sex and violence, and political commentary being allowed over time. While it was never clear to me, nor to the Koreans that I've discussed this with what the exact guidelines for censorship were, many of the Korean directors knew, and would self censor their films to ensure an easier release and distribution process. Graphic, oral, and gay sex, and political commentary that "went too far" were not allowed.
Congress passed a set of revisions concerning the Film Promotions Code on March 17, 1997. They will come into effect on October 1997. The revised codes call for a ratings system and the creation of the Korean Performance Arts Promotion Council (KPAPC) similar to the one used in the United States, with the same consequences. Directors and producers will want to avoid any rating that will limit the distribution of the film in order to maximize their profits. Unfortunately, Korea has not yet authorized theaters to screen non-rated films. Any non-rated film can not be released for six months.
It should also be noted that not all Koreans think that censorship is a bad thing, and that it should be eliminated. Many think that the society should be protected from unsavory influences as exhibited by concerns about Japanese comics and graphic novels. Many Korean citizens are alarmed by the increasing violence in schools and sexual activity of Korean teens and young adults, and think that the recent loosening of censorship laws since 1979 has caused the recent decline of Korean society of culture. These attitudes are still fairly widely held by many of the adults in their 30's and 40's who are otherwise seemingly in favor of a more open and liberal political climate.
What is clear from my readings and questions is that the debate concerning censorship in Korea is only beginning and that the Pusan International Film Festival is an important focal point for that debate giving you one more reason to hustle after those tickets.