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| Government officials and experts from Korea and the UAE take part in the 1st Korea-UAE Cultural Content Industry Forum, Tuesday, with Korean participants attending in person at the Millennium Hilton Seoul. / Courtesy of Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism |
By Park Han-sol
With 2020 designated as the year of Korea-United Arab Emirates Cultural Dialogue, government officials and experts from both countries have taken part in meetings to examine channels for bilateral cooperation in cultural content exchange and development.
The 1st Korea-UAE Cultural Content Industry Forum, co-hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the UAE's Ministry of Culture and Youth, was held virtually, Tuesday, with Korean representatives attending in person at the Millennium Hilton Seoul.
Under the theme "COVID-19 and the Cultural Industry: Crisis and Opportunity," participants, including Vice Culture Minister Oh Young-woo and his UAE counterpart Culture and Youth Undersecretary Mubarak Al Nakhi, discussed prospective areas for cultural cooperation in both the public and private sectors.
The UAE is the first Middle Eastern country to officially establish a cultural dialogue with Korea in 2020 in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of their diplomatic relations. With its content market valued at nearly $8 billion as of 2019, the Arab nation is seen as a strategically important cultural partner in the region and a potential stronghold for the spread of "New Hallyu" (a new wave of global popularity of Korean culture amid the COVID-19 pandemic), the ministry said.
Despite the UAE's small population, especially that of its nationals called Emiratis, "the country, with its wealth and the influx of global companies and foreigners, can serve as a hub and a starting point of the spread of hallyu in the Arab region," Ko Jeong-min, a professor of arts and cultural management at Hongik University who took part in the forum, told The Korea Times.
In Tuesday's conference, participants sought ways to step up bilateral cultural exchanges amid the global health crisis triggered by COVID-19 by discussing the role and value of the cultural content industry as well as sharing the creative industry's responses to the pandemic.
A culture ministry official familiar with the matter noted the significance of taking the first step toward such cooperation geared towards cultural content.
"As hallyu is popular in the Middle East, our aim is to establish a kind of a bridgehead in the region through the formation of a hallyu network between the two countries. Both parties have agreed to hold the forum every year and as it progresses, it can lead to more specific areas of collaboration," the official told The Korea Times.
He said the discussion took place in an amicable atmosphere as the UAE has many hallyu fans and has shown eagerness for cultural development. Next year's conference, which will be held in the Arab nation, may even be accompanied by K-pop performances, he added.
The two parties adopted a joint declaration pledging a partnership in the distribution and promotion of creative content at both the state and private level.
Ko stated the collaboration can take many forms: the UAE's benchmarking of Korea's content development process, co-production and location sharing in media, and state-level cultural exchanges of exhibitions and performances, among others.
He forecast that with the upgraded artist training system, agencies' capabilities, film producers' skill levels and writers' storytelling abilities, Korea can continue to adjust to changing dynamics and improve its cultural power.
"The government's role should be limited to training and fostering personnel, the establishment of a relevant infrastructure and the settlement of copyright issues. Coupled with the private sector's creative potential, New Hallyu will be able to continue to thrive."
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