[Ceremony] Government’s Market-Oriented Approach on Culture May Backfire

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

National

Mon, October 2, 2023 | 01:09

Presidential Inauguration

CeremonyGovernment’s Market-Oriented Approach on Culture May Backfire

Posted : 2008-02-24 19:18

Updated : 2008-02-24 19:18

By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter

The government of President Lee Myung-bak is expected to put more emphasis on boosting the culture industry as part of efforts to help the nation join the world's top five cultural industrial powers, one of Lee's presidential election pledges.

To build up a powerful culture industry, the government will likely come up with stronger measures to support the development and promotion of content.

This content ranges from motion pictures, games, music and even broadcasting. Stronger measures will mean ways to step up digitizing, publishing, and sustainable exploitation to sharpen the competitiveness of domestic culture.

To achieve such goals, Lee's administration is expected to promote the nation's cultural brands while building up cooperation with other Asian cultural industries.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism is expected to toughen its regulations and crackdowns on illegal P2P downloads and relevant laws on property rights.

The new administration is seeking to double the culture budget during its term in office.

Last year, the Culture Ministry's budget accounted for just 0.95 percent or 2.26 trillion won of the total government budget. But Lee's government is seeking to increase it to about 2 percent.

The estimated rise in the culture budget is in line with Lee's philosophy that sees culture as an ``economic resource'' in which the power of the cultural content might lead to creating more jobs in the sector.

Lee is expected to pour more money and give administrative support to such cultural sectors as motion pictures, games, music and broadcasting to aim for the global market.

However, a ministry official said that it is too early to mention the budget increase as it is now in the initial stage of reviewing major policies and there are no specific details out yet.

Lee's government is also seeking to abolish entrance fees for visitors to national museums and galleries to give the public more access.

As part of the efforts to downsize the government, the Lee's transition team has attempted to merge the National Museum of Korea into the Cultural Heritage Administration, drawing a harsh backlash from cultural circles.

Experts criticize the inaugural government's approach on culture as an economic development-oriented one ― using it as a product rather than an invaluable asset.

chungay@koreatimes.co.kr

Actor to Become Culture Minister

Yu In-chon, a well-known actor, was nominated as minister of culture and tourism Monday.

Yu, one of the influential culture and entertainment industry figures, who helped Lee during the presidential campaign, is expected to become the third celebrity-turned-minister. If confirmed, he would be following in the footsteps of actor-turned-minister Kim Myong-gon and director-turned-minister Lee Chang-dong. Lee's film ``Secret Sunshine'' garnered his leading actress the best actress award at Cannes last year.

As the two former ministers communicated well with artists and cultural figures in their respective fields, expectations are high that Yu will do the same as he is an influential figure in the soap opera, film and theatrical arenas.

But Yu is also known for his leadership during his term in office as chief director of the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, an organization under the auspices of the Seoul Metropolitan Government, for about three years, from 2004. He was appointed when Lee served as the mayor of the capital.

Yu's presence both in the cultural field as an actor and experience as head of the organization are expected to help him cooperate with artists working on the spot to keep cultural policies in place and also manage the organization.

Yu headed the 600-member committee for cultural and art policies on Lee's campaign team.

Their personal ties date back to the late 1980s. Yu played a character in a 1989 hit drama called ``Times of Ambition,'' which was based on Lee's story in which a poor boy becomes the chief executive of one of the country's biggest corporations.

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