[Yonhap News Photo]
Organizers of Asia's biggest film festival accused prosecutors Wednesday of succumbing to "political pressure" to bring groundless corruption charges against four former and current festival officials.
The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) has been mired in a dispute over the 2014 screening of a documentary about the South Korean passenger ferry that sank off the southwest coast with the loss of more than 300 lives.
At that time, the festival's organizing committee led by former director Lee Young-kwan rejected a request from the host city of Busan to remove the documentary which highlighted the government's initial sloppy rescue operation, from the festival lineup.
In retaliation, Busan city mayor Suh Byung-Soo, who served as co-leader of the festival, slashed city funding and tried to reshuffle the committee, citing alleged corruption. Lee and supporters have urged the mayor to end his high-handed interference in the festival's operation.
"The investigation by prosecutors has been politically motivated," BIFF organizers said in a statement which came a day after Lee and three former and current committee members were charged with corruption and embezzlement. They insisted "political pressure" forced the prosecutors to indict Lee with overblown charges.
The row has intensified since Lee's three-year term officially expired in February. Film industry workers have threatened to boycott the festival.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
