South Korea: Divine Performing Arts To Perform Despite CCP Interference

On February 7th, the Coex Theatre in Korea signed a contract with NTDTV Korea to provide a venue for the visiting Divine Performing Arts. On March 14th, however, Coex suddenly cancelled the contract. NTDTV Korea believed that the theatre cancelled the contract because of pressure from the Chinese Embassy and as a result NTDTV brought Coex Theatre to court.

Before the ruling, to ensure that the show would be staged as scheduled, the judge told the plaintiff and defendant that the Court would draw a conclusion as soon as possible and issue the final verdict at the final trial.

After reviewing the programme of the show and details of shows preparation, the judge concluded that the programme of the Divine Performing Arts did not contain any content that violates Korean laws or disturbs social order. He said that he also believes that there is no content that may jeopardise trade relations between Korea and China. The judge said that it was hard to claim that the show has any political intention.

The verdict was issued on the morning of April 20th. Seoul Central Court ordered that the Coex Theatre should host the Divine Performing Arts as scheduled.

While Korean judges gave full consideration to the defendants' arguments, the judge in this lawsuit found all of Coex Theatres arguments invalid.

According to The Epoch Times, the judge also ordered the Coex Theatre to pay all legal expenses for both defendant and plaintiff.

The plaintiff, NTDTV Korea, said that it was very satisfied with the verdict and would provide additional supporting documents to the court.

Unstoppable Divine Performing Arts

The Korea visit of the Divine Performing Arts has been cancelled twice because of interference from the CCP. After learning that it has given world-class performances around the world and its programmes showcase authentic Chinese culture, however, the Korean peoples' expectations have been continuously increasing. In just two days, all 4000 tickets for the two shows scheduled on April 24th and 25th were sold out.

Considering the emotional response from the public, NTDTV Korea said that it had decided to add a show on the afternoon of April 25th. Although April 25th is a weekday, tickets for this show are also running out quickly.