Korean artists exploited by unfair contracts according to survey
Seoul’s government is expanding investigations into business practices in movies, broadcasting and art and design
Unfair contracts and practices are posing a grave threat to the livelihood of cultural artists operating in Seoul, a survey conducted by the metropolitan government said Monday.
In the poll of 315 cartoonists and webtoon writers and 519 illustrators from last December to February this year, four of five illustrators, or 79 per cent, and 37 per cent of cartoonists and webtoon writers said they were forced to sign unfair contracts.
Among the unfair contracts signed by illustrators, demand for excessive modification accounted for 23.6 per cent of complaints, followed by non-payment of draft work at 20.2 per cent and copyright transfer agreement at 15.2 per cent, the survey found.
The poll also said that among cartoonists and webtoon writers who were forced into unfair contracts, 31.4 per cent cited facing a copyright transfer agreement, with another 31.4 per cent pointing their fingers at unfair profit distribution.
The amount of financial damage caused by unfair profit distribution averaged 7.66 million won (US$6,800) for cartoonists and webtoon writers and 3.4 million won (US$3,013) for illustrators.
About 55 per cent of illustrators and 36 per cent of cartoonists and webtoon writers said they received an unreasonable notice of contract cancellation.