Strong Push for Globalization of Korean Cultural Contents

Minister Yu calls for advancing Korean contents industry to among the top 5 in the world as a future growth engine

Minister Yu In-chon of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced on Feb. 22 the Strategy for Expanding the International Advancement of the Korean Contents Industry, which is one of the future growth engines, and to help advance the industry to among the top five in the world.
A key element in the strategy is to expand the exports of Korean “killer” global cultural contents to $7.8 billion annually by making the Korean cultural content industry among the top in the world. Cultural contents exports currently run to around $100 million annually.
The first part of the strategy calls for expanding the storytelling culture contents around the country by expanding the current “Korea Story Grand Public Contest” to make it bigger and more authoritative. The plan calls for the import of an AI system like those used in Hollywood for the production of storytelling solutions and to supply them around the country. This is part of the strategy of opening a cultural-type database to producers of the storytelling content, so that they will be able to provide one-on-one customized services.
The newly discovered storytelling content materials from the public contest will be provided to the OSMU “killer” contents production support business and the global animation discovery support business and others worth some 10 billion won for a start, along with other support including financial support in connection with the guarantee for the completion of the system and the seed funds to beef up the possibility for success.
The ministry will try to make the annual Korea, Japan and China cultural industry forum into a joint cooperation channel for the contents industry in a step toward signing a borderless content agreement for Korea, Japan and China within the framework of the free trade agreement discussed during the FTA summit among Korea, Japan and China held last year.
The three countries will set up a joint task force on cooperation on the contents industry in March and hold its first meeting in Tokyo to discuss, among other subjects, joint production of contents, joint marketing and the formation of joint funds in support of the joint moves on cultural contents.
A major aim of the joint efforts would be for their joint cultural contents to enter the U.S. market, the largest in the world with annual sales of 3 trillion won, including the computer graphics market in Hollywood. They wish to secure 10 percent of the CG projects from Hollywood annually worth 300 billion won, equivalent to 10 times the sales value of the annual exports of Korean films.
A tax exemption system will be set up for investments in the computer graphics industry to invigorate investments. The ministry also will try to create incentives in cooperation with other ministries for attracting Hollywood movie production to Korea in such areas as tax exemptions on wages, production costs, and shortening the return of the value-added tax.

Under the Korea-EU FTA, expected to be signed in April, the ministry will try to spur exchanges in the contents industry so that a one-stop information provision service can be created by giving Korean businesses the same favors as their counterparts in EU member countries in such areas as quotas for broadcasting of content materials and subsidies on screen products.
The ministry also plans to pave the way for Korean cultural contents materials such as online games server operations and expand the global service platform that supports network expenses in the EU, which is emerging as the largest contents market in the world, outrivaling the United States and China.
The ministry also plans to make “Hallyu,” or the Korean Wave, centered on public entertainment culture, part of the Korean culture in general; from “analogue contents” to “digital contents,” from one-way to two-way contents and from business-centered to “connection-centered,” as the need for such changes arise and provide financial as well as systematic support for the creation and expansion of the new Hallyu culture.
The ministry also plans to launch the “Sejong Academy” for the Korean culture in the Central and South American region to spread Hallyu contents around the world, along with a “Korean Cultural Fashion Showroom” to various strategic cities in the world, starting with New York, for the sake of the globalization of the Korean culture and the diversification of Hallyu contents.

At the same time, in order to expand two-way cultural exchange, the ministry will award the “Dari Award” to those who have made a distinguished contribution to the exchange of cultural contents around the world, along with cash prizes and overseas training and also launch a film festival for over 1 million foreign residents in Korea to give them an incentive to make their ties with their mother countries stronger.
The ministry will also provide financial support (80 million won) to drama productions connected with Hallyu stars, along with moves to continuously strengthen Hallyu contents as part of Korea’s tourism resources, along with such traditional contents as Taekwondo, Buddhist temple stays and Chinese medicine. The ministry plans to plough 310 billion won into this strategy by 2013 for the development of the Korean contents industry including the plan to export $7.8 billion worth of cultural contents by developing 30 genres of global Korean cultural contents. nw

A popular five-woman vocal group, “Wonder Girls” Posters for performances “Breakout” and “Jump” and for games.

Covers of popular cartoon characters; Pucca, left, and Ppyororo.

BigBang, a five-man vocal group