Minister Park Yang-woo of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST)

Minister Park Yang-woo of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) had a 30-year stint as a bureaucrat with the culture and art fields. Minister Park stressed the importance of “field management” during his first news conference at the Sejong Government Complex on April 22 since he took the helm of the ministry.

Last week, I met with an antitrust movie committee, and a meeting with the Public Athletic Center for the Disabled after watching the film “Listen to Your Heart, the Beautiful Mind 2018.” Minister Park said he will ponder what policies will be implemented after looking at each worksite.

Minister Park said his ministry plans to handle the tourism industry as a convergence industry and implement policies through consultation among the central, local governments and businesses in an efficient fashion and in a mid- and long-term perspective.

In his inaugural speech, Park emphasized leverage to reinvigorate economic momentum in the culture, sports and tourism sectors. In his latest meeting with reporters, he revealed his determination to ramp up global competitiveness in the culture industry.

“Initially, support needs to be provided for creating and distributing content of global standards abroad, and it is quite significant to offer tax, financial, and marketing support and protection of copyrights when it enters foreign markets.” he said. There are many cases of copying Korean-made cultural products, and ministries need to make joint efforts to address the issue, Minister Park said.

Minister Park said Korea has to be on alert for over-the-top streaming media firms such as Netflix and Disney Plus that made their debuts here.

Controversy has flared up over vertical integration of the Korean film industry, but the global platforms that have entered Korea have already completed vertical integration. For instance, Netflix, which saw its subscribers surpass 140 million, plans to invest 9 trillion won next year. The OTT steaming media company distributes standalone products directly to viewers.

He warned that Korean-made content might be subordinate to the OTT streaming media firms. Stressing the scale of economy, Minister Park said, the MSCT needs to consult with the Korea Communications Commission and the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) to cope with the issue.

The ministry plans to introduce a “screen cap” to correct unfair practices of the film market such as screen monopolies, Park said. The upcoming screen cap refers to putting an upper limit of screens for some hit films, a step to stem bipolarization of the film industry.

“I cannot say specifics, including the percentage, an issue with which coordination with the National Assembly is essential, but it does not take long to enter a process of amending the relevant act.” he said.

Park noted that if the Korean film industry grows in the global market, diversified and good films have to hit the streets.
Rep. Woo Sang-ho of the Minju Party of Korea submitted to the parliament a proposal to put a 50 percent cap on prime hours between 1 p.m. and 11 p.m. when screens are monopolized severely.

Minister Park showed a keen affection to promote hangul, the Korean alphabet, which is enjoying popularity on the back of hallyu (Korean Wave). He lamented that even the government abuses loanwords and does not use Korean words properly. For instance, 5G, meaning fifth generation, is misread “paivg” a case of misusing loanwords and foreign words. He stressed that Korea’s mother tongue is a cultural root and is fundamental.

He said the King Sejong Institute will spearhead the promotion of Korean language abroad in connection with hallyu.

Last year, the ministry took steps to have costs of purchasing books and performance tickets deducted from income tax. The measure has been expanded to cover costs of appreciating art exhibitions. Minister Park said his ministry is consulting with other related ministries, including the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MOEF) on whether to get newspaper subscription fees deducted from income tax.

Minister Park Yang-woo of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism speaks at a meeting on innovative growth of the tourism industry with tourism industry represetantives at the Korea Tourism Organization building in Seoul on April 12. (Photo: MCST)