JYP founder appointed to lead pop-culture exchange commission

Park Jin-young, founder of JYP and head of the planned Commission on Pop-Culture Exchange, is seen in this file photo. Yonhap

President Lee Jae Myung on Tuesday appointed singer and JYP Entertainment founder Park Jin-young to lead the planned Commission on Pop-Culture Exchange, alongside Culture Minister Chae Hwi-young.

“Park is one of Korea’s leading singers and has worked to globalize K-pop,” presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik told reporters in a briefing. “He will help create a Korea where people around the world can better enjoy our culture, while we also embrace diverse foreign cultures.”

Park, 53, is a singer, songwriter and producer who founded JYP Entertainment in 1997. The agency has since become one of Korea’s leading entertainment companies, debuting acts such as Rain, Wonder Girls, 2PM, TWICE and Stray Kids, helping drive K-pop’s global rise.

The commission, expected to launch as early as this month, is a presidential body created to fulfill Lee’s pledge to make Korea one of the world’s top five cultural powerhouses.

With global interest in Korean pop culture surging, driven in part by Netflix hits such as “Squid Game” and “KPop Demon Hunters,” the commission will serve to expand the reach of Korean music, drama, film and games through cultural exchanges and cooperation.