Yu In-chon
Minister of Culture |
By Kim Ji-soo
Staff Reporter
JEJU ― To hear him expand on cultural policy, it seems that Yu In-chon wants to do a lot more than he has done for the past one-and-a-half years.
The minister of culture, tourism and sports is already a long-serving minister in the Lee Myung-bak administration. He was a member of the inaugural Cabinet in February last year.
Yu's goals are clear. Rather than build anew, he wants to preserve. Rather than unilaterally export Korean culture, he wants to exchange and infuse.
His aims are also high in terms of budget: He hopes to raise the total cultural budget to account for 1.5 percent of the national budget by 2012.
Yet, he wants the benefits of culture to seep into the nooks and crannies of Korea, so that grandmothers in the smallest villages can enjoy performances with their grandchildren.
Speaking in Jeju at a seminar hosted by the Korea New Editors' Association, he spoke ardently about his plans.
An actor-turned-minister, Yu began by explaining how he wants to retain existing edifices while looking to expand venues for creative arts.
"Retain all the shower facilities where the miners used to shower. Show it as it is ― that is what I would like to pursue in expanding our cultural facilities," he said.
Other examples are the salt farms in Sinan, South Jeolla Province, which are to be turned into a salt museum, and a stone quarry in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, which will be turned into an art village.
This type of preservation and reinterpretation seems to be at the core of his vision, perhaps even in globalizing Korean culture.
Korean culture and its facets are becoming more widely known around the world, yet the perception remains that it is undervalued.
According to Anholt's nation brands index in the fourth quarter of 2007, Korea ranked 30th out of the 35 countries in terms of the value of its "brand image."
To address this problem, the government has set out to promote facets of the culture globally, including "hansik," or Korean food, "hallyu," or Korean Wave, and "hangeul," the Korean alphabet.
The ministry has said it will promote hangeul as a national brand, but mostly through the private sector and NGOs.
The minister said with the election of Choue Cheong-won as president of the World Taekwondo Federation, he hopes to combine hangeul and taekwondo and promote them together.
None of this, however, should be done with a one-way-street mentality, Yu said.
"I had the chance to visit the Los Angeles County Museum of Art recently when they opened a Korean gallery, and I met with people who were involved in Korean studies and culture. Among their requests was to send teachers who can teach 'gugak' (Korea's traditional musical instruments) in English," the minister said.
"But I am interested in learning how the West receives and understands our culture ― to infuse the thoughts of the West with ours, not to just send our culture one-way," he said.
"One of the problems of 'hallyu' is a backlash from the consumers of our pop culture in China because of the one-way delivery," Yu said.
The government has undertaken a study on how to share cultures, rather than merely exporting Korean cultural content.
Yu said that another focus during his term is to enhance the protection of intellectual rights content.
As there are many difficult tasks ahead, the minister seems intent on revamping national art organizations.
After taking office, he has replaced eight chiefs of national art organizations, saying repeatedly it is time they live up to their names.
On a lighter note, when asked to list his achievements and mistakes so far, Yu answered frankly he now knows how to answer at parliamentary hearings. During last year's parliamentary hearings, the minister's flash of temper had been in the news.
"At that time, there were some things I didn't understand about the hearings," he said, chuckling. As for his achievements, the minister said, "I hope to answer that question better next time with concrete results."
janee@koreatimes.co.kr
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