[Editorial] The Significance of the 'Culture Charter'

The "culture charter" will be officially promulgated to civil society in October. It is supposed to stipulate citizens' cultural rights. They released the draft to the public Thursday, and as you see its basic framework states that the state must guarantee all citizens equal cultural rights. It becomes the first citizens' rights charter that simultaneously possesses citizen initiative and governmental discipline for being a joint work with civil society drafting the document and the government accommodating it.

Defining cultural rights as equal to socio-economic rights and other civil rights is particularly original. It is progress to consider cultural rights in the context of equal rights and define the state's obligations regarding them. You feel a sense of satisfaction that Korean society will have the world's most advanced culture charter, when it has for so long ignored culture and culture rights because it was busily struggling to make ends meet. Culture is a concept that covers the totality of a person's life, and it is about more than just art. In that sense the culture charter about to be adopted shares in the ultimate goal of allowing "people to live their lives as people."

The culture charter shows you how civil society has come to possess the ability to force the state the promulgate it. Civil society had the latent cultural strength, so it is no coincidence that the document clearly states that it is not your conventional "charter for the populace" but a "citizens' rights charter." One hopes that as the charter is made official our society will be able to move beyond treating culture as a simple extravagance or a marginal form of discourse. The government must seek ways to give strength to each of the charter's articles, giving consideration to the intention behind each one. In the future the long-term overall tone of cultural policy must be in line with guaranteeing citizens' cultural rights, and the country's various laws related to culture need to be made to fit with the spirit of the times so that the law supports the culture charter.

The Hankyoreh, 26 August 2005.

[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]