K-pop gets fresh lift with presidential push

President Lee Jae Myung, third from right, poses with Park Jin-young, center, co-chair of the Presidential Committee on Popular Culture Exchange, and members of idol groups Stray Kids and Le Sserafim at the kickoff ceremony of the committee held at Kintex in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday. Yonhap

President Lee Jae Myung didn’t just give a policy speech on Wednesday — he joined the show. Sitting front-row in a sleek hanbok, he applauded as Le Sserafim performed and later grabbed the microphone to personally introduce Stray Kids to the crowd. The president’s rare appearance with idol performers set the tone for the government’s new emphasis on culture.

The event marked the launch of the Presidential Committee on Popular Culture Exchange, a new body designed to supercharge Korea’s cultural influence overseas. By naming Culture Minister Chae Hwi-young and JYP Entertainment founder Park Jin-young as co-chairs, Lee signaled an unusual partnership: government authority working hand-in-hand with one of the industry’s biggest insiders.

Lee cast the initiative as “Hallyu 4.0,” the next stage of the Korean Wave, where music, film, gaming and webtoons evolve from cultural exports to global connectors. He described K-culture not just as a soft power tool but as a potential economic engine on par with Korea’s iconic industries like semiconductors and shipbuilding.

"Our government will work to ensure that Korean popular culture goes beyond bringing joy, inspiration and empathy to global audiences, and becomes a core industry of the Korean economy," Lee said.

The ceremony drew executives from SM, HYBE, YG, NCSoft, Nexon and Naver Webtoon, underscoring the alliance between the state and the country’s most powerful entertainment players.

Korea is making sure it isn't leaving its cultlural boom to chance by making it an official policy to ensure that K-pop and its creative cousins remain at the center of the global stage.

“The world is paying attention to the remarkable success of our popular culture, but our cultural capacity still has unlimited potential to grow beyond this success,” he said, adding, “I hope our popular culture will spread even further.”