MCST Eager to Tap Contents Industry

Sets its sights on joining the ranks of the global top five contents powerhouses

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Yu In-chon said, "Now that all broadcasting programs are set to be digitalized starting in 2012, the appearance of numerous new channels will be inevitable. In this regard new media laws are necessary to prepare corresponding contents and nurture global media groups with a competitive edge."
Dismissing wide-spread public concerns that the revised media laws might trigger monopoly in the broadcasting market, Minister Yu said, "The more media channels we have, the broader choice for the public to choose diverse news and materials to watch."
In order to prevent the feared side effects, he said, the ministry is seeking various tools such as conducting a public poll on the concentration of newspapers and creating a research commission on media diversity of broadcasters.
Minister Yu explained the ministry's position on the controversial new media laws ― recently passed by the ruling Grand National Party despite vehement opposition by political opponents and critics ― and other ministry policies, including the one designed to promote the content industry, on the state-run KTV channel's "Policy Discussion Program," which was televised on Aug. 2 at 8 a.m.
He said under the "Art New Deal Program" ― named after the economic recovery from the Great Depression in the United States in the 1930s ― 5,600 million won will be provided for cultural events such as poetry reading sessions and local tour performance to be held in even remote regions this year. The program is designed mainly to support artists while also bringing benefits to the public.
In particular, Yu said, his ministry will provide vouchers to low-income workers so that they can have access to various forms of culture. "For example, efforts will be made in creating an environment in which those in the low-income bracket are allowed to pay 5,000 won to watch a musical, which normally fetches more than 500,000 won.
Regarding new culture policies the ministry will implement, Minister Yu said his ministry has been picking up speed in working them out from late last year, and the budget will be drawn up this year to produce cultural policies in their own colors from next year. "Since it takes at least three to five years to effectuate supportive polices in the field, the paradigm shifted to a long-term culture development policy and it would take effect around next year," the minister said.
Taking a look at the achievements the ministry made during the first half of 2009 at a news conference held on July 2, the minister first cited the removal of Korea from the watch list of the "Special 301" report on alleged inadequate protection of U.S. intellectual property rights by the Office of the US. Trade Representative.
Korea has been on the Priority Watch List or the Watch List of the Special 301 Report issued by the US Government since 1989.
Since the inauguration of the Lee Myung-bak government, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) has implemented stringent steps to protect IPRs with the goal of evolving Korea into a global cultural contents powerhouse through the creation of a sound IPR ecology. To this end, the government investigated 61 people and online service providers on the suspicion of habitually uploading illegal online works for profit; cracked down on 273 cases of 5,992 copycat printed materials; discovered 262 entity violators in the wake of the crackdowns into unauthenticated software by public organizations; and imposed on 21 online service providers a total of 154 million won in penalties for failing to take technology protection measures.
In this regard, Minister Yu said, "The government's efforts to protect IPRs for the past one year has contributed to laying the foundation for joining the ranks of cultural content powerhouses, and this has a significant in the improvement of Korea's national brand."
Commenting on the revised copyright law, which took effect on July 23 following the first removal of Korea from the Watch List of the "Special 301" report on alleged inadequate protection of U.S. intellectual property rights, on the KTV channel, Minister Yu said, "We will make sure that copyrighted works can be legally distributed through a Digital Copyright Exchange to pursue transparent and efficient use of copyrighted works. Establishing guidelines for UCCs and applying technological protection measures to facilitate the use of copyrighted works are also expected to contribute to the improved convenience in using works. We must use works fairly and the contents of Korea need to be protected overseas."
"Those on military duty are being educated on the significance of copyrights and the government is considering further expanding such education on copyrights," he said.
Yu said the purpose of the amended copyright law is to root our illegal file-sharing on the Internet, mainly targeting the so-called "Heavy uploaders" who illegally upload works to make profits or earn fame and online service providers who bring financial gains to heavy uploaders and provide convenience for them to upload or download illegal files at ease. The amendment was aimed at strengthening regulations against those who are engaged in distributing pirated works professionally and creating a sound copyright environment ultimately leading to an expansion in the legal market.
A research on the size of the damage to the market inflicted by pirated works for 2008 is under way. In the 2006 study, the estimated amount was some 2.019 trillion Korean Won. In particular, pirated audiovisual products, including TV dramas, accounted for approximately 90 percent of the total contents distributed on the Internet.
As to allegations that the amended copyright law may give legal power to the government to shut down online message boards such as those on portal Website Daum's Agora, Minister Yu said the case of the so-called three-strikes-out system in France was basically different. The French Constitution Commission ruled the French projected system as unconstitutional. France attempted to preempt copyright infringers from even gaining access to the Internet, while the amended Korean copyright law guarantees free access to the Internet, restricting only those activities found to have severely infringed copyright.
The minister noted that concerns over the possible misuse of the amended copyright law to control online postings critical of the government come from the misunderstanding about the amended law. He emphasized the new law was designed to regulate heavy uploaders who distribute illegal files on the Internet habitually, disrupting the legal contents market, and to effectively deal with online message boards that provide room for those heavy uploaders to share pirated works and earn financial profits. Ordinary individual accounts of portals, their message boards, blogs, mini-homepages and discussion boards that are not like the above-mentioned entities in nature are not subject to the newly introduced provisions on the amended law.
Explaining the government's plan to help Korea produce contents with a competitive edge and join the ranks of the global top five, Minister Yu In-Chon of Culture, Sports and Tourism added the domestic cultural contents market is expanding at a rapid pace. Sales have surged at an annual average of 9 percent for the past five years, exports have surged a whopping 27.8 percent and imports are showing high growth.
Despite the explosive growth and overseas entry, he said, the Korean contents industry, which takes up a small share of the global market, is still in its infancy with a focus on domestic demand. Korea has a 2.4 percent interest or $36.8 billion to rank ninth in the global market, compared with the front-runner, the United States, with a 40.1 percent stake or $612.2 billion, but Korea has an upper hand in the global online game market with a more than 30 percent share. The minister added that the local contents industry is stuck with such structural woes as small-sized businesses, outdated distribution systems, widespread copycats and a vulnerable investment environment.
In an effort to nurture the contents industry as a national growth engine, he said, the MCST is pushing ahead with programs to ensure an institutional overhaul and systematize government financial support. It will establish mid- and long-term plans corresponding to each content category. Under the plan, it will draw up next-generation convergence content development strategies, and cartoon, animation, character and manpower as well as game industry development strategies. The ministry is shifting the direct financial support paradigm ― choice and concentration method ― into an indirect system of fostering professional manpower, supporting R&D and building infrastructure, among others, he said.
In accordance with the detailed contents industry development plan, he said, the government has built an inter-ministry institutional system for promoting the content industry. The authorities passed the Act on the Promotion of the Content Industry and inaugurated the Content Industry Promotion Committee and expanded the culture technology (CT) sector's share of the government's R&D outlays from 40.4 billion won in 2008 to 67.5 billion won in 2009.
Secondly, the government has improved infrastructure for the content creation by setting aside 57.85 billion won for technology development of the content industry in 2009. It plans to build a global game hub center with the MCST and Microsoft Korea investing 27 billion won and 23 billion won respectively, a scheme to construct broadcasting video content production infrastructure between 2010 and 2012 with an investment of 320 billion won together with a plan to upgrade planning, development and investment systems of Korean cinemas to advanced levels and the globalization of Korean pop music.
Third, the government plans to provide information tailored for Korean content makers to extend their business abroad.
Lastly, the government is stepping up crackdown on the illegal copying and distribution of content products and will build up the digital copyright transaction exchange.
In a bid to counter infringements of network game copyrights in some Asian countries, Minister Yu said the Korean government is trying to protect Korean game companies' overseas business activities in cooperation with local governments. And he added it established the Global Content Center last December with the goal of providing such supports as corporate marketing, legal consulting and localization to Korean companies wanting to enter foreign markets.
Meanwhile, announcing his business plan on tasks the ministry will implement during the second half of 2009 at the July. 2 news conference, Minister Yu said his ministry will expand sports facilities for the general public and culture and arts programs for children's welfare centers and other facilities with a focus on stabilizing low- and mid-level income earners' livelihoods. The minister specified the plan to expand 274 more sports facilities for the general public, build 11 more leisure-sports facilities and dispatch an additional 2,000 instructors for guiding the general public's sports activities.
The minister said the ministry has recently set up the Korea Creative Content Agency (KCCA) by consolidating the existing five content-related institutions. This is to raise the competitiveness of the Korean content industry and actively provide support for Korea's exploration of the global content market. The consolidation was made to stimulat the "one-source, multi-use" strategy, departing from the separation of functions of the now-defunct five institutions.
The ministry inaugurated the world's first digital library, "Dibrary," designed to compile, classify and preserve digital information resources as well as extend a helping hand in the efficient use of confirmed digital information data on May 25.
The Dibrary, which was dedicated after three years of construction, consists of a new-concept digital integrated culture space for communication between human beings and information resources and an open space for users' digital data search, creation and exchange as well as for rest and experiences.
The National Library of Korea integrates and operates the online service space "Dibrary Portal" and the offline service space "Information Plaza." It is expected to be set a new example supplying not just the conventional on-paper contents, but digital contents as well. nw

Korea-ASEAN Traditional Orchestra Performs in Seoul

The Korea-ASEAN Traditional Orchestra, which premiered at the ICC Jeju for the participants of the Korea-ASEAN Commemorative Summit on May 31, performed on June 4 at the National Theater of Korea.
The orchestra performance was the first of its kind in a project to promote cooperation between Korea and ASEAN in the culture and art fields.
The orchestra performed diverse traditional songs from Korea and ASEAN member countries with traditional musical instruments from those nations. They included "Arirang" from Korea, "Seloka from Malaysia, "Orde-E" from the Philippines, "Bengawan Solo" from Indonesia, "Reverie" from Cambodia, "Singapura" from Singapore and "Rice's Life" from Thailand.
The Korea-ASEAN Traditional Orchestra, the fruit of Korea and ASEAN's efforts to promote cultural cooperation, will take the lead in promoting cultural exchanges between Korea and ASEAN member nations.
The orchestra is the first one ever formed with 79 Asian traditional instruments from 11 nations ― Korea, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. nw

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Yu In-chon