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Parliamentary research arm pushes for trust system to protect earnings of underage performers

Published: 09 May. 2025, 14:07

LEE SOO-JUNG
[email protected]

The National Assembly building is seen in Yeouido, western Seoul in June. [YONHAP]

Actor Kim Sung-eun, 34, known for her role in '90s sitcom SoonPoong Clinic (1998–2000), said she had to turn to a part-time job as a middle schooler after her father lost the money she earned as a popular child actor. Kim's confession last year highlighted a lack of legal protection for Korean child performers' earnings.

The National Assembly Research Service on Friday published a report calling for a trust system to protect the salaries of child or teenage celebrities from mismanagement by their parents and legal guardians.

The report came as the number of underage actors, singers and YouTubers grows with the global rise of K-pop and Korean content.

A 2023 survey by the Korea Creative Content Agency revealed that 48.7 percent of minor celebrities received their paychecks through their legal guardians’ bank accounts, while 42.7 percent used their own bank accounts. The Korean Civil Act dictates that "any property acquired under the name of a child shall be peculiar property of the child, and such property shall be managed by the person of parental authority who is the legal representative of the child."

Kim Sung-eun, 34, an actor who was popular for her role in the TV sitcom ″SoonPoong Clinic″ (1998-2000), confesses that she had to work as a caregiver during her middle school years after her father squandered the money she earned as a child actor. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Regarding how to craft the trust system for child performers, the parliamentary research agency cited the system in the United States.

The Jackie Coogan Law — named after late U.S. actor Jackie Coogan, who realized his mother and stepfather had squandered his childhood earnings — mandates that at least 15 percent of child celebrities’ earnings be deposited in a blocked trust account. The measure is effective in California, New York and Illinois.

The National Assembly Research Service said Korea should amend the Popular Culture and Arts Industry Development Act to add a new provision requiring child actors’ parents to open trust accounts, set a minimum threshold for the deposit and define penalties for violations.

In December, conservative People Power Party Rep. Jung Hee-yong and nine other lawmakers proposed an amendment that included a provision allowing parents or legal guardians of underage performers to open and manage a bank account under the Korean Trust Act until they become adults. However, it did not specify the deposit threshold or include obligatory clauses.

The Trust Act stipulates that the fiduciary relationship between guardians and underage beneficiaries ends once the recipients become adults.

The National Assembly Research Service said parliamentarians should discuss whether to include social media influencers and earnings from digital content outside of movies, TV shows and commercials as subjects of the mandatory trust savings. According to the agency, France obligates parents of child performers to receive permission from state authorities to use profits from social media and digital content in which their children appear.

The agency also noted that the legislature should refer to the U.S. case to set a deposit threshold, while allowing room for discretionary agreements between employers and child performers.

The agency also asked the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to take responsibility for building the trust system, mediating dialogue between stakeholders and cooperating with financial authorities to manage child performers’ trusts.

BY LEE SOO-JUNG [[email protected]]