Thursday, November 6, 2008

South Korea's Long-Term Cultural Strategy

South Korean Culture Minister Yu In-chon said he will formulate a long-term overseas promotional strategy to boost the global popularity of Korean culture. Long-term planning invariably means a bigger budget in promoting Korean culture. Yu said the plan is on the drawing board, adding that the action program will eventuate early next year.

Yu mentioned the on-going Korea Festival in Brussels, Belgium as a good example of promoting Korean culture overseas. The minister of culture, sports and tourism said the event is gaining huge popularity in Brussels because it shows the essence of Korean culture ― not only traditional culture, but also food, fashion and other things. He added preparations took two years. A similar event will be held in Petit Palais, Paris in 2010.

For the Americas and Europe in which Korean culture is relatively unknown, the government will take a more aggressive promotion strategy. It will expand multi-cultural exchange programs with East Asian countries through ASEAN to introduce diverse Asian cultures. He said the comprehensive Korean cultural promotion policies would be completed by 2012. Read the full Korea Times article here.

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