The director and cast of “Squid Game” attend a press conference in Seoul, in this file photo taken Sept. 16, 2022, to mark the dystopian drama winning Emmy awards. The global smash hit Korean-language Netflix show won six Emmys — best director, best actor, guest acting, stunts, production design and visual effects — at the 74th Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on Sept. 12. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Jan. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea will spend about 790 billion won (US$622.5 million) to support small and medium-sized companies and startups in the content industry this year in order to increase exports of Korean cultural content, the government said Thursday.
The government will also seek to make it the first year in the country’s efforts to become a tourism power, creating a cluster for history-culture-themed tourism in old neighborhoods surrounding the former presidential compound of Cheong Wa Dae in central Seoul.
Those plans were included in Culture Minister Park Bo-gyoon’s report to President Yoon Suk Yeol on his ministry’s six-point work plan for this year.
Under the comprehensive work plan, the ministry will fund 790 billion won, including a 410 billion-won K-content fund to invest in Korean cultural content, for programs to support small and medium-sized companies, startups and venture businesses in the content industry.
The 790 billion won is the largest-ever government financing for such businesses. The culture ministry spent 526.8 billion won on supporting them last year.
The content industry is an umbrella term for organizations that make copyrighted works available to the public, such as publishing, music, games, broadcasting, films, cartoons, animation and characters.
This image provided by the cable channel ENA shows a scene from the legal drama “Extraordinary Attorney Woo.”
The ambitious plan comes as the industry has become a new leader in the country’s exports in recent years amid the global boom of Korean pop cultural products, such as films, TV dramas and pop music, also known as “hallyu.”
The country’s cultural content exports hit an all-time high of US$12.4 billion for the country in 2021, boosted by the global boom of Korean pop culture, according to government figures released Wednesday.
The figure is far more than home appliances ($8.67 billion), secondary batteries ($8.67 billion), electric vehicles ($6.99 billion) and display panels ($3.6 billion), according to the culture ministry.
The ministry will help startups and venture businesses in the industry to materialize their ideas from the early stage of planning and developing them.
The government will also spend 56.4 billion won this year on a program to nurture 10,000 professionals with capacities to create content using new technologies in the next three years.
Another major pillar of the 2023 work plan involves connecting the rising overseas popularity of Korean pop culture with reviving tourism to the country.
For this, the government will declare the year 2023 as the “Year of Visit Korea” and hold Korea tourism road shows to promote the country in 15 big cities around the world.
It will create a cluster for history-culture-themed tourism in old neighborhoods centered on the former presidential compound of Cheong Wa Dae in central Seoul.
The neighborhoods surrounding Gyeongbok Palace, a royal palace from the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), are already popular tourist destinations with beautiful hanok houses, art galleries, museums, cafes and restaurants.
Cheong Wa Dae became a hot tourist spot after President Yoon Suk Yeol made good on a campaign pledge to open the once heavily fortified compound to the public as he moved the functions of the presidential office to another location in Seoul.
More than 2.7 million people have visited the site since it opened in May last year.
This file photo shows participants gathering at the 2022 G-Star Global Game Exhibition in the southeastern port city of Busan. (Yonhap)
To promote the convenience of foreign tourists, the government will improve its electronic travel authorization system, called K-eta, and create a K-culture trainee visa that allows foreigners visiting Korea to learn about its culture to stay up to two years.
Through those efforts, the ministry aims to increase the country’s earnings from tourism to $30 billion with 30 million foreign tourists by 2027 from $10.3 billion and 970,000 in 2021.
In response to the growing demand for learning the Korean language among global fans of Korean pop culture, the government will continue to expand the global network of the King Sejong Institute, a government-sponsored Korean language education organization, to 270 outlets across the globe this year, from the current 244.
Also included in the ministry’s 2023 work plan were policies to support next-generation leaders in Korean classical music, promote balanced regional development of the country in terms of cultural and tourism infrastructure and expand cultural opportunities for the socially weak.
On sports, the ministry will focus its efforts on helping the people enjoy sports in their everyday lives and improving its system to support athletes.
(Yonhap)
