Park Jin-young rejected government offer for months before accepting minister-level post — and turned down the salary and car

Singer Park Jin-young, who surprised many when he was appointed co-chair of the Presidential Popular Culture Exchange Committee — a minister-level post — has opened up about how he came to accept the role.

Park appeared on MBC's variety program "Jeonjijeogin Chamgyeon Sijeom" on Saturday, giving viewers a look at his work as co-chair of the committee.

That day, he visited Cheong Wa Dae for a meeting on the K-culture festival "FANOMENON" with presidential chief of staff Kang Hoon-sik and Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Choi Hwi-young, who serves as the committee's other co-chair.

Park greeted Kang with the ease of an old friend. When Kang brought him his favorite cold brew coffee, Park quipped: "You're too sweet. Didn't we both get won over by this? We were both scammed into taking the job."

Park said it was Kang who persuaded both him and Minister Choi to take on the co-chair roles. "I turned it down for three months before finally agreeing," he said. "He kept calling and checking in on me the whole time."

"The three of us have gotten really close," Park added. "I kept saying no for so long, and we ended up becoming friends through the whole process of him trying to convince me."

Park also moved to head off any suggestion of political alignment. "I'm not progressive, I'm not conservative — I'm Park Jin-young," he said.

Asked whether the government was providing him with a ministerial salary and official vehicle, Park said he had agreed to take the post only on a non-full-time basis. "If you work full-time, you get paid and receive a lot of benefits, but I said I would only do it part-time," he said. "Serving as a minister-level official on a part-time basis makes no sense, but they worked everything out so I had no choice but to accept. I'm not taking a salary." He also declined the official vehicle that comes with the ministerial rank.

Park unveiled the "2027 FANOMENON Promotion Plan" on July 27. FANOMENON is a portmanteau of "fan" and "phenomenon." The privately led mega-event combines K-pop concerts, a fandom awards ceremony, and exhibition and experience programs by K-culture companies — modeled on the likes of Lollapalooza and Coachella. It is scheduled to run for 11 days, from Dec. 2 to Dec. 12, 2026, at the Seoul Arena in Changdong and the KINTEX Hall 2 exhibition center in Goyang.