Ministry's 2025 plan to give 'hope to, connect world via culture'

By Lee Jihae

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on Jan. 10 announced its major business plan this year saying its policy will "provide hope to the struggling public economy through culture and connect with the world."

The plan's five main tasks are expansion of cultural support for economic recovery; balanced regional development via culture; development of the content, tourism and sports industries that lead growth and exports; a culture that makes a new future; and "our" culture that breathes with the world.

For this, more support will first go to small tourism business owners and microenterprises. Other financial support measures include KRW 50 billion in special loans to struggling tourism businesses, loans for tourism businesses (KRW 536.5 billion); interest subsidies (KRW 100 billion) and credit guarantees (KRW 70 billion).

The sports industry will get a combined KRW 248 billion in loans. New subsidies worth KRW 5 billion will help retired athletes start businesses or find new careers.

To stabilize the environment for arts, KRW 60 billion in funds will go to art activity preparation and KRW 18 billion to livelihood stabilization funds and loans for jeonse, a system using a lump-sum deposit as rent.

To alleviate cultural gaps between regions and the country's population decline, a differentiated development strategy will use the distinct cultural assets of each area. The first step in this is to stimulate regional cultures focused on the 13 newly designated "Korea Culture Cities" and promote Local 100, a list of 100 cultural attractions in the provinces, through public-private cooperation.

Another KRW 18.3 billion will go toward developing region-specific content and KRW 7.5 billion for fostering sports brands representative of the provinces.

Major progress in the content industry will come through support for innovative growth. First, a Global League Fund worth KRW 100 billion will be launched to attract overseas investment, and a fund for domestic content and media worth KRW 500 billion will be capable of large-scale investment.

To enhance tourism convenience, the temporary exemption from the Korea Electronic Travel Authorization, aka K-ETA, for select countries will be extended through December, and visa fees for members of group tours from six countries including China will also be lifted over the same period. QR code-based payment methods will also be expanded at major tourist destinations.

To prepare for the rapidly developing era of artificial intelligence (AI), a strategy for the future of the content sector in the AI era (2025-35) will be devised and released.

Finally, more support will go toward the global spread of "K-art" like performing and fine arts and literature as well as the Korean language, traditional culture and taekwondo. New branches of King Sejong Institute (KSI) will be opened for this goal, and a KSI Center to be set up in Chile will serve as the institute's regional hub for South America.

Video content on traditional culture such as Hansik (traditional cuisine) will be produced and distributed through major overseas broadcasters and over-the-top streaming services. Another plan is to promote traditional culture exchanges abroad in cooperation with Korean Cultural Centers.

jihlee08@korea.kr

Source: https://www.korea.net/NewsFocus/Culture/view?articleId=264898&pageIndex=1