hankyoreh

The script of Park Geun-hyung’s controversial play, “Frog,” was changed by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, it was revealed on Oct. 30. An investigation into the Park Geun-hye administration’s blacklisting of cultural figures found that “Frog,” which was adapted from a Greek play by Aristophanes and satirized Park and her father, Park Chung-hee, was scrubbed of references to the late president Roh Moo-hyun. In the play, in which the hero journeys into the afterlife to find “That Person” (who originally symbolized former president Roh), authorities pressured the author to change “That Person” to the character’s mother. Suspicions that “Frog” ended up on the cultural blacklist began when the play was denied subsidies from the government following its initial performance at the National Theatre Company in Sept. 2013. (a scene from the play, “Frog.”)