Promotion of K-content to receive intensive attention as a gamechanger for the export landscape

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) has announced that a total budget of KRW 844.2 billion, or 12.5% of the Ministry’s total budget of KRW 6.7408 trillion for 2023, has been assigned to creating and promoting K-content for the year to launch Korea into becoming a first-rate culture enjoyed by the public and appreciated by the rest of the world. The MCST intends to create an environment where creative ideas become global intellectual property, and provide all-out support for strategic expansion of K-content export as well as expansion of manufacturing and service industry exports.

MCST Minister PARK Bo Gyoon, said, “The K-content industry has emerged as a strong player in the Korean export market sooner than anyone expected. The value of K-content exports stood at USD 12.4 billion as of 2021, surpassing the value of exports of home appliances, secondary cells, electric cars, and display panels. As such, K-content has become a new driver of growth, helping to remove some uncertainty in the South Korean economy.” He added, “The MCST is endeavoring to make this growth trend sustainable, and with this year’s policy financing—the highest ever—we intend to promote K-content intensively, seeing it as a game changer that can reshape the exports landscape.”

The major new projects to be financed are: (video/film) establishing an independent rating classification system for OTT services (budget: KRW 2.95 billion); planning and developing animated films (KRW 3 billion); (music) assisting with developing on- & offline performance content using advanced technologies and IPs (KRW 5.5 billion); overseas advancement using local resources (KRW 4.5 billion); (gaming) building an e-sports stadium (KRW 1 billion, in Chungcheongnam-do Province); training professional manpower for e-sports (KRW 1 billion), holding an e-sports competition for the disabled (KRW 500 million); (comics) supporting development of K-venture companies (KRW 1.5 billion); operating programs to develop artists able to draw webtoons that can attract one billion views (KRW 1 billion); holding job fairs for the webtoon industry (KRW 1 billion); (advanced technology, R&D) establishing a convergence academy for advanced technology-based content (KRW 5.7 billion); R&D to develop IPs for metaverse content (KRW 3.3 billion), strengthening technical competitiveness for culture venture companies (KRW 2.1 billion); training professional technical manpower for different cultural genres (KRW 1.5 billion); (expansion of K-Culture); providing in-depth, customized information about overseas markets using Hallyu data (KRW 1.5 billion); and supporting holding of a K-culture exhibition (KRW 300 million, in Cheonan).