The prosecutors’ office launched an investigation in April shortly after one of Cho’s ghost painters filed a case with the Chuncheon Supreme Prosecutors’ Office. The investigation found that Cho had placed painting orders with two ghost painters. When the paintings were shipped to Cho, Cho added slight touches to them before having them shown in public exhibitions. The prosecutors also deemed that the painters could not be seen merely as Cho’s assistants.

One of the ghost artists claimed that he painted some 200 to 300 paintings based on Cho’s requests. Prosecutors confirmed that 83 paintings went on exhibition at 12 galleries, of which 33 were sold.

Meanwhile, the Korean Fine Arts Association and the Korea Professional Artists Association, filed suit against Cho on Tuesday for defamation over his remarks that hiring assistant painters is a common practice in the art world.

“Cho has caused huge damage to the honor of many artists by saying that hiring assistants is a common practice in the art world,” their statement read.

By Lee Woo-young (wylee@heraldcorp.com)