The show is ready; the tickets are sold; and posters and information packets have long been distributed. But the theater where the 2006 NTDTV Chinese New Year Global Gala in South Korea is supposed to be presented on Feb. 10 has been barred from use.
The 2006 NTDTV Chinese New Year Global Gala is being presented in 17 major cities around the world. But in Seoul, South Korea, the Gala has run into major hurdles. On Jan. 26, less than half a month before the Seoul Gala, the Gala preparation team in Seoul unexpectedly received a notice from the Performing and Broadcasting Hall of KBS that NTDTV's contract for using the Hall on Feb. 10 had been unilaterally revoked and that the hall would no longer be available for the Gala. No explanation was given.
Director of the Seoul Gala Kwon Okyong told reporters that the NTDTV Chinese New Year Global Gala was prepared for all audiences around the world, but that KBS's revocation notice insisted there were "other purposes" behind the show. "We have already signed contracts with performing groups, and everything is ready. It is impossible to postpone the show now. Besides, the gala tickets have basically been sold out."
Pressure from Chinese Embassy
According to the Seoul Gala preparation team, the contract for renting KBS for the Feb. 10 Gala has officially been signed and a 30 percent deposit has been paid in advance. Cho Yongmin of the Seoul Gala preparation team said, "We contacted the person in charge of the contracts for KBS and asked for an explanation. He said the decision was due to a demand in an official memorandum from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He added that the Korean government had to cancel a public performance like this one simply because of pressure from the Chinese Embassy in Korea; this is really ridiculous."
Members of the Seoul Gala preparation team said that the Chinese embassy in Seoul not only pressured KBS directly with an official notice, but also, staff members of the embassy's Political Affair Division have made a personal visit to the Second Division of the Northeast Asia Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in order to make KBS revoke the contract.
Upon receiving the revocation notice, NTDTV of South Korea immediately requested the court's intervention and demanded a hearing. The presiding judge has promised a final decision no later than Feb. 9
In the meantime, NTDTV of South Korea has announced that the Seoul Gala would be presented as scheduled—7:30 p.m. Feb. 10—at another venue: the Little Angels Hall.
NTDTV, the only overseas Chinese TV station that is able to broadcast uncensored news to mainland China, has been barred repeatedly from accessing events involving Chinese communist officials. During the annual APEC summit in Pusan, South Korea, last November, the Korean government denied media entry to the reporters of both NTDTV and The Epoch Times. When asked if that was due to pressure from Chinese officials, Cho Wonhyung, Director General of APEC's Media and Communications Department, did not deny.
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