Culture ministry seeks 6.44% rise in next year's budget

The culture ministry said Thursday it is seeking a 6.44 percent increase in its budget for next year mainly to spend more on projects to support the rising popularity of Korean culture in foreign countries and promote traditional cultural assets.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said it has formulated a 3.95 trillion won ($3.53 billion) budget for 2013, up from this year's 3.6 trillion won, and plans to submit that proposal to the National Assembly for approval.

Of the total, 1.14 trillion won is set aside for supporting the nation's culture and arts fields, a 5.4 percent increase from this year's budget, and 1.04 trillion won is earmarked to boost tourism, a 6.5 percent increase from this year, according to the ministry.

Some 973.5 billion won is for sporting projects, including the preparation for the Winter Olympics set to be held in Korea's alpine town of PyeongChang in 2018, it added.

One of the main focuses of next year's budget increase is on providing more active support to Korean pop culture, which has gained widespread popularity beyond Asia, the ministry said.

The ministry said it raised the budget to push for some 40 projects aimed at further boosting the Korean Wave by 23.9 percent to 319 billion won, adding the programs include holding diverse overseas events, teaching the Korean alphabet and promoting traditional Korean cultures.

In a phenomenon known as the Korean Wave or "Hallyu" in Korean, Korean TV dramas, movies and pop music had captivated fans in Asia and other parts of the world over the past several years.

On the tourism front, the government said it is earmarking 280 billion won to build more tourism-related facilities such as accommodations.

Some 100 billion won of the budget is allocated to build infrastructure such as stadiums and streets for the Winter Olympics, and 2.6 billion won is to spend on helping developing countries' sporting industries, according to the ministry. (Yonhap)