Anna Jiwon Park has been covering the politics at The Korea Times since the summer of 2024, when she joined the press pool for the Office of the President in Korea. Prior to that, she spent about five years reporting extensively on financial markets, regulatory authorities and the financial industry. She joined The Korea Times in 2019 after spending eight years as a broadcast journalist at Arirang TV, Korea’s leading global broadcaster, covering politics, defense and culture.
Gov't eyes K-food, K-beauty to drive growth in AI age
President Lee Jae Myung presides over a senior secretaries’ meeting at the presidential office in Seoul, Monday. Yonhap
By Anna J. Park
President Lee Jae Myung reaffirms continued support for K-culture industry
The Lee Jae Myung administration reiterated its strong commitment to advancing Korea’s culture industry and enhancing the nation’s standing as a global cultural powerhouse through the expansion of K-culture exports, including K-food, K-beauty and other creative sectors.
The topic took center stage during the 13th Senior Secretaries’ Meeting, held Monday at the presidential office in central Seoul's Yongsan District and presided over by the president. During the meeting, Lee described culture as “the core of a nation’s dignity, competitiveness and power in the 21st century.”
Expanding on the traditional definition of culture, Lee said, “When we talk about culture, we often think of music or fine arts. But today, culture encompasses a much broader scope — dramas, films, food, beauty and more.”
“At its heart, in the most comprehensive sense, culture is a value system rooted in democracy," he said. "The world now admires Korea not just for K-pop, K-dramas and K-movies, but also for K-food, K-beauty and even K-democracy.”
Lee also emphasized that Korean culture is beginning to embody “the noble and powerful force” envisioned by independence leader Kim Koo, saying that the country now stands “at the gateway to becoming a true cultural powerhouse.”
“The explosive global popularity of K-culture has elevated Korea’s reputation and appeal,” he said. “With the strength of our culture, Korea is emerging as a leading nation that inspires the world.”
President Lee Jae Myung presides over a senior secretaries’ meeting at the presidential office in Seoul, Monday. Yonhap
Addressing the role of culture in Korea’s economic future, Lee remarked that the government aims to leverage the country's strong cultural power for future growth engines. The president underscored the need for a comprehensive and integrated approach to strengthen the nation’s cultural ecosystem.
“To firmly establish a spirit of K-culture, we must develop a holistic strategy that encompasses every aspect of the cultural ecosystem,” Lee said. “We need to accelerate innovation in financing, taxation and regulatory systems that support cultural content, while exploring ways to enhance synergy with related industries. Strengthening the social safety net for artists — the foundation of cultural policy — should also be a priority.”
He also urged his administration to pursue cultural innovation with a sense of national purpose.
“The future of Korea depends on realizing a creative and innovative cultural powerhouse," he said. "I hope we design our policies with great care and determination.”
Following the president’s opening remarks, a three-hour closed-door session was held, covering a wide range of topics. Discussions included measures to expand exports of culture-related consumer goods, improve infrastructure for cultural exports, strengthen R&D in the culture industry and explore content creation and production in the AI era, as well as review the current state of cultural financing. The session proceeded with a presentation of a draft plan, followed by debate and the identification of additional issues for further discussion.
During the meeting, Lee also instructed officials to develop stronger support measures for the pure arts sector, urging improvements across all areas of traditional and fine arts. He further directed the government to explore support plans for literature and publishing, and to create systems that enable Korea’s overseas missions to comprehensively manage both public and private cultural initiatives under a unified policy framework.
The senior secretaries’ meeting, typically held on Thursdays, was moved to Monday this week, the first working day following the Chuseok holiday period.