National Context of
Culture, City and Creativity in Korea
Se Hoon Park and Youn Hee Jeong
Dec. 1. 2021
Creative Korea … but creative cities?
• Korea has become a global cultural powerhouse, but can cities benefit?
• Changing emphasis of national cultural policy
“National Culture”(60-80s) Cultural Welfare(90s) Cultural Industry and Local Culture(2000s)
• Inter-connected but separate domains of promoting cultural industries and making cultural cities
CCIs policy for export promotion and industrial development
Cultural city policy for boosting local economy based on culture
National Cultural Policies in Korea
Cultural and Creative Industries
CCIs Cultural industries
are defined as
industries involved in the production,
circulation and use of cultural goods and services
Contents industries are defined as industries associated with the production, circulation and use of “contents”
(publishing, broadcasting, advertising, music, film, knowledge and
information, cartoons, animations, characters, games, and contents solutions )
No official definition for creative industry in Korea
Status of CCIs
• Dramatic increase in sales and export
publishing cartoons
music games
film animation
broadcasting advertising
characters knowledge and information
contents solutions
• Games occupy 65% in export and
publishing 27% in employment (2019)
Games 65% in export
Regional Disparity in CCIs
• Provincials cities have difficulties to harness CCIs for the concentration of CCIs on Seoul and surrounding areas
Seoul 64%
Gyeonggi 22%
Other regions
14%
Seoul 53%
Gyeonggi 20%
Other regions
27%
<CCIs in sales> <CCIs in employment>
Laws and Institutions for CCIs
• The Framework Act on the Promotion of
Cultural Industries in 1999
• The Content Industry Promotion Act in 2010
Ministry organizations Laws Agencies
• Cultural Industry Division in the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism
(MCST) in 1994
• Cultural Content
Promotion Division in the MCST in 2002
• Content Policy Bureau in MCST in 2014, including supporting cultural
industries and Korean Wave
• Korea Creative Contents Agency (KCCA) in 2008 for implementing the government’s cultural industry policy
• The Contents Industry Promotion Committee (CIPC) in the Prime Minister’s Office in 2011 for decision making and policy coordination
• The Korea Foundation for
International Cultural Exchange (KOFICE) in 2013 to facilitate international cultural exchange
National Vision for CCIs
• Expanding financial aid for cultural industry promotion
• Supporting start-ups and training talents
• Promoting the export of goods and services in the global market
• Building an ecosystem for all participants in the market
• Enhancing competitiveness and building a cooperation system
• “Promoting Creative Economy by Content Industries and Realization of the Era of 30,000 USD Capita per GNI” (2014)
The 2nd Plan for Content Industry Promotion (2014)
Towards Cultural and Creative Cities
• Local Culture Promotion act (2014)
• Special Law for the Hub City for Asian Culture (2007)
• Special Law for Preservation and Promotion of Ancient Capital City (2004)
Ministry organizations Laws Agencies
• Local Culture Policy Bureau in the MCST
• Hub City of Asian Culture Division in the MCST
• Asia Culture Center (ACC)
• National Intangible Heritage Center (2013)
• Enhanced national government’s effort to redirect the benefit of cultural industry to local cities with a view to balanced national development
• Difficulties of promoting CCIs in local cities emphasis on place making, tourism and infrastructure development
Promoting Local Culture
• Building sustainable base for local culture
• Promoting balanced development of local culture
• Creating local value based on culture
• Vision of Local Cultural Plan (2015) :
“Creating regions where citizen are happy with culture”
The first local culture promotion plan (2015)
• Background: (1) Increasing demand for national government’s support for local culture, distancing from the previous top- down cultural policy, (2) the rise of cultural economy, particularly tourism
Initiates for Making Cultural Cities
Title Regional
Cultural Hub City City of Culture Tourism Hub City UNESCO Creative City Network
Policy goals
Culture driven regional development based on local character
Balanced national development
Promoting local culture and supporting local community
Sustainable urban development based on culture and creativity
Fostering a world-class tourism hub
Balanced national development
Sustainable urban development based on culture and creativity
Cooperation among creative cities
Period From 2004, varies depending on cities
5 years for a designated city
5 years for a designated
city Infinite after designation
Designated cities
5 cities (Gwangju, Busan, Gyeongju, Jeonju, Gongju and Buyeo)
12 designated cities and 16 preliminary cities
Busan for an international tourism hub city
Mokpo, Jeonju,
Gangneung and Andong for regional tourism hub cities
10 Korean cities and 246 cities globally
Budget
Vary depending on cities (KRW 5 billion USD for Gwangju for instance)
KRW 20 million for each selected city for 5 years
KRW 15.9 million for all selected cities in 2020
No financial support from national and international agency, but cities allocate their own budget
National government is supporting …
• Establishing cultural facilities like Asia Culture Center in Gwangju and Cinema Center in Busan
• Enhancing cultural assets by preservation and promotion measures
• Infrastructure such as roads and parks for
improving accessibility and living environment
• Supporting artists and cultural players’ cultural activities like creation and exhibition
• Capacity building of cultural sector as a base for culture-base urban development
• Encouraging citizen's everyday cultural experiences and enjoyment
<Asia Culture Center>
12
Opportunities and Challenges for Cities
• Emphasis of cultural policy on the local culture and local autonomy
• Generous the national government’s support in making creative city
• Rise of tourism industry in domestically and internationally
Opportunities
Challenges
• State-driven creative city making
• Weak local cultural capacity and participation
• Market-oriented creative city policies relying on tourism and business promotion
