Leaders of National Theater of Korea and Korea National Ballet extend contracts

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced Friday that it extended the three-year contracts of Ahn Ho-sang, CEO of the National Theater of Korea, and Korea National Ballet’s artistic director Kang Sue-jin, whose terms both end this month.

The decision came a little late compared to previous years, due to a halt in numerous paperwork and decision-making following the recent controversies surrounding the culture ministry and its minister Cho Yoon-sun as well as the alleged involvement of her creating a so-called “blacklist.”

Ahn’s three-year term has been extended twice since he began leading the National Theater of Korea in central Seoul in 2012. Kang was appointed as the director in February 2014, making it her first extension.

The culture ministry said that it highly regards Ahn’s efforts to produce performances centering around its resident companies while achieving great results after actively promoting traditional performing arts such as changgeuk (Korean opera). With Ahn’s direction, the national theater was able to finish the construction of its rehearsal halls late last year as well. Meanwhile, the ministry also said that the Korea National Ballet was ranked “excellent” in its annual appraisals for two consecutive years “thanks to Kang’s flexible leadership.” It said that she also expanded its repertoire, covering diverse genres of ballet, while increasing the number of performances in a year and operating ballet classes for the public as well.

By Yim Seung-hye