It was supposed to be a win-win meeting of pop and high culture, with the National Museum of Korea announcing a new commercial collaboration with the record label and talent agency behind some of the biggest names in K-Pop. Instead, the Seoul institution stands accused of art-washing fraud allegations.
On Thursday, the museum posted a photograph on social media of its director, Yoo Hong-jun, alongside HYBE chairman Bang Si-hyuk, who is currently under criminal investigation over allegations of unfair trading related to company’s 2020 stock launch.
The agreement between the museum, the National Museum Foundation of Korea and HYBE (the hitmaker behind bands BTS, Seventeen, Zico and more), would see a collaboration on commercial products and enterprises, featuring K-pop talent and the museum collection, while promoting South Korean cultural heritage internationally.
The backlash was swift. One comment read ‘A national institution shouldn’t be promoting a criminal suspect’, while another social media user wrote: ‘A credible cultural body is being used to launder the image of a corporate tycoon.’
The post disappeared from the museum’s Instagram page the following day, though it is unclear whether the deal itself is off.
Meanwhile, BTS member RM is to curate an exhibition at San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art in 2026.
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