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| A cinema in Yongsan District, central Seoul, is crowded with moviegoers in this June photo. Yonhap |
By Kim Rahn
Nearly six in 10 Koreans have enjoyed movies, plays and music concerts by visiting theaters and performance venues in 2022 as the COVID-19 pandemic ebbed and most social distancing measures were lifted, according to a survey by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Thursday.
The survey showed 58.1 percent of 10,136 people aged 15 or over went to movies, plays, art exhibitions, concerts, musicals or other stage performances, up by 24.5 percentage points from 2021.
The figure is still low compared to pre-pandemic levels ― 81.8 percent in 2019 ― but there were signs of a recovery people engaging in cultural activities.
But the recovery was different by age and income groups. Among those in their 20s, the ratio of people enjoying going to venues for cultural activities rose from 63.8 percent in 2021 to 90.6 percent in 2022, while among those aged over 70, the ratio grew from 5.6 percent to 14.8 percent.
By income, 73.6 percent of people making over 6 million won ($4,730) per month enjoyed cultural activities this year, up by 24.7 percentage points compared to a year before. But only 17.4 percent of people earning less than 1 million won did so, up by 2.7 percentage points.
Movies took up 52.2 percent of such cultural activities in 2022, followed by art exhibitions, musicals, plays and concerts by Korean or foreign musicians.
Amid the eased social distancing rules, a growing number of people participated in cultural activities with their family members or friends rather than by themselves. Some 51 percent of respondents said they enjoyed such activities alone, down from last year's 63.6 percent, while 33.5 percent did so with their families, up from 28.8 percent, and 12.4 percent with their friends, up from 6.5 percent.
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