The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister HWANG Hee, MCST) together with the Korea Tourism Organization (President AHN Young-bae, KTO) will be hosting the “First K-Culture Conference” on Wednesday April 27 at 2pm under the theme of “The Spirit of the Times as Reflected in K-Culture: Policy Initiatives for a Sustainable Korean Wave.”

  The conference is organized to carry out in-depth analyses of the Korean Wave from various perspectives and identify the necessary policy initiatives to enhance its sustainability. This will also serve as a platform to provide a public sphere for an extensive reflection of the past, present, and the future of K-Culture. MCST noted that the “‘K-Culture Conference’ will be an opportunity to inform the international community on the role of the Korean Wave in leading a new spirit of the times, as well as further promoting the national image and vitalizing the relevant industries.

  The first K-Culture Conference will be live-streamed online via the official Youtube website (https://www.youtube.com/c/KoreaintheWorld) from 2pm to 5:30 pm so anyone interested in the conference are welcome to participate in the event. The conference will provide Korean - English simultaneous interpretation for participants.

  The conference will open with the remarks from the 1st Vice Minister of MCST, KIM Hyunhwan, and the keynote speech will be delivered by Full Professor of University of Chieti-Pescara and Senior Advisor for OECD Paris, Pier Luigi SACCO. Following the opening speech, experts at home and abroad will present on the topics of the international exchange, tourism, content, and media.

  The first session will be delivered under the theme of “K-Culture as the Spirit of the Times and Implications for Cultural Policy.” KIM Sunhyuk, Professor of Korea University, will present on the topic of “Building social capital and cultivating cultural and creative innovation for global societies in partnership with K-Culture.” Teppo TURKKI, Executive Advisor for Ministry of Finance of Finland, will present on the “Finland’s creative industries and innovation policy approach to visitor economy.” Sam RICHARDS, Teaching Professor of Sociology at Penn State University, will discuss on “Text and context: A new horizon for K-contents’ socio-cultural values and missions.” KIM Kyuchan, Research Fellow of Korea Culture & Tourism Institute (KCTI), will present “K-Culture’s platform economy and media ecosystem.”

  In the second session on the theme of “Policy Initiatives for a Sustainable Korean Wave,” Stephen DUNCOMBE, Professor of Media and Culture at New York University, will present “K-Culture for sustainable development and social innovation.” CHAE Jeeyoung, Research Fellow of KCTI, will deliver on the “K-Culture that works to build better tourism for better lives.” KIM Sungkwang, Secretary General of Korea VR·AR Content Association, will follow with the title on “The Entrepreneurship and innovation of K-Content industry in the era of digital transformation.” LEE Sungmin, Professor of Korea National Open University, will present “Towards a future-fit K-Culture: The sustainability strategy of broadcasting, media and contents.” For more details on the program, please refer to the attached agenda.

  After all sessions, there will be panel discussions moderated by LEE Taejun, Professor at KDI School of Public Policy and Management, with a panel including KIM Sunwoo, Head of Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Studies at Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI); PARK Moongu, Partner of Center of Excellence for Digital Transformation (CoE4DX) of KPMG Korea; SHIN Minsoo, Professor of Hanyang University Business School; JUNG Jongeun, Professor of Department of Culture & Content of Sangji University; CHOI Kwangho, Secretary General of Korean Music Contents Association; CHOI Sungjin, CEO of Korea Startup Forum.

  Taking the opportunity of holding the First K-Culture Conference, the Ministry reaffirmed the commitment to continue on drawing the K-Culture to drive policy innovation and public-private partnerships in the future.