Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST; Korean: 문화체육관광부) is a central government agency responsible for the areas of tourism, culture, art, religion, and sports. It has two vice ministers, three assistant ministers, one commission, and over 60 divisions. The first Minister of Culture was novelist Lee O-young.[2]

Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism
문화체육관광부
文化體育觀光部
Munhwa Cheyuk Gwangwang-bu

MCST headquarters in Sejong City
Agency overview
FormedFebruary 29, 2008[1]
Preceding agencies
  • Ministry of Culture and Information (1968-1990)
  • Ministry of Culture (1990-1993)
  • Ministry of Culture and Sports (1993-1998)
  • Ministry of Culture and Tourism (1998-2008)
  • Ministry of Information and Communication (Digital Contents affairs only) (1994-2008)
  • Government Information Agency (1999-2008)
JurisdictionGovernment of South Korea
HeadquartersSejong City, South Korea
Ministers responsible
Child agency
Websitemcst.go.kr/english
The former ministry building in Seoul

Subsidiary entities such as the National Museum, the National Theater, and the National Library are under the Ministry.

The headquarters are located in the Sejong Government Complex in Sejong City.[3] The headquarters were previously in Jongno District, Seoul.[4]

History

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism was originally a sub-organization of the Ministry of Education created in 1948. Later, the Ministry of Transportation set up a tourism department. The Ministry of Information was set up in 1961 for administration of art and cultural affairs. The Ministry of Culture and Information became the Ministry of Culture in 1990.[5]

In 1993, the Ministry of Culture was integrated with the Ministry of Youth and Sports to become the Ministry of Culture and Sports. In 1998, as part of government reorganization efforts, the Ministry of Culture and Sports was replaced by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. It was created to invest in and support the entertainment industry, as Korea needed new areas of growth in the wake of the Asian financial crisis in the 1990s.[6]

President Kim Dae Jung put forth industrial policies supporting entertainment with the same regard as traditional industrial sectors such as manufacturing. Investments were made in both infrastructure and technology to support K-Pop, including concert halls and visual effects technology. In addition, government regulation of karaoke bars favored K-Pop.[7]

The Ministry developed the Korea Open Government License (KOGL), a copyright license that allows for the use and distribution of public materials.[8]

Since then, there has been a focus on developing soft power; the Ministry believes that by promoting Korean culture abroad, exports of other goods and services will also increase. As part of those efforts to move beyond developing a domestic industry and toward international success, the Ministry established an advisory committee and announced an international training school. Direct financial support of artists increased. In 2013, the Ministry allocated 319 billion won (US$280 million) for direct support of Hallyu (Korean Wave). Cultural exports increased at an annual rate of 10 percent as a result of these efforts.[9]

Korean Culture and Information Service
Main article: Korean Culture and Information Service

The Korean Culture and Information Service is a department of the MCST that aims to bring Korean culture closer to the rest of the world while improving the national image of Korea. It is also responsible for setting up more than 20 Korean Cultural Centers around the world.[10]

List of ministers
No. Portrait Name Term of office President
Took office Left office Time in office
Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism (2008-present)
44 Yu In-chon 29 February 2008 26 January 2011 2 years, 332 days Lee Myung-bak
45 Choung Byoung-gug 27 January 2011 16 September 2011 232 days
46 Choe Kwang-shik 17 September 2011 10 March 2013 1 year, 174 days
47 Yoo Jin-ryong[11][12][13] 11 March 2013 16 July 2014 1 year, 127 days Park Geun-hye
48 Kim Jong-deok[14] 20 August 2014 4 September 2016 2 years, 15 days
49 Cho Yoon-sun[15][16][17] 5 September 2016 20 January 2017 137 days
50 Do Jong-hwan[18] 16 June 2017 2 April 2019 1 year, 290 days Moon Jae-in
51 Park Yang-woo 3 April 2019 10 February 2021 1 year, 313 days
52 Hwang Hee 11 February 2021 12 May 2022 1 year, 90 days
53 Park Bo-gyoon 13 May 2022 Incumbent 1 year, 165 days Yoon Suk-yeol

Criticisms

Despite the large amounts of money the government provides for Hallyu, the K-Pop industry, the most internationally well-known part of Hallyu has criticized the Ministry's efforts. Many industries such as fashion and food have lobbied the government for inclusion in the Hallyu budget, and politicians and the bureaucracy also have varying interests in how the budget is distributed. Despite popular internet speculation on the Korean government's financial support for the promotion of K-Pop, there are no figures to substantiate the speculation. In 2013, of the $230 million allocated for Hallyu, there are itemized contributions to the promotion of the Korean language, culture and food but no known figures for allocations directly to K-Pop. Independent of financial support in recent years the Ministry has been successful in reversing decades-long governmental policy of suppressing and jailing pop and gayo artists in favor of supporting K-Pop as a driver of Hallyu overseas.[19]

See also

Notes and references
  1. ROK Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism website: History of Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Archived 2011-07-23 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. "Lee O Young". Korean Literature Now. Literature Translation Institute of Korea.
  3. "Location." Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Retrieved on January 1, 2014. "Government Complex-Sejong, 388, Galmae-ro, Sejong-si 339-012, Republic of Korea"
  4. "Location." Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. April 23, 2012. Retrieved on January 1, 2014. "Address: 215 Changgyeonggung-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul, 110-360 Korea"
  5. The ministry was established on 3 January 1990 by Presidential Decree Number 12895. "About MCST: History". Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Archived from the original on 4 August 2016.
  6. Hong, Euny (5 August 2014). The Birth of Korean Cool: How One Nation Is Conquering the World Through Pop Culture (1st ed.). New York: Picador. ISBN 978-1-250-04511-9. OCLC 881387185.
  7. "How the South Korean Government Made K-Pop a Thing". National Public Radio (NPR). 2015.
  8. "공공누리". www.kogl.or.kr. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  9. "How Korean Bureaucrats Turned K-Pop into a National Symbol". PRI. 2013.
  10. "Greetings from the Director". Korean Culture and Information Service. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  11. "Minister profile". ROK Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. 2013. Archived from the original on 2 October 2013.
  12. "Yoo Jin-ryong, a respected and seasoned cultural bureaucrat". Yonhap. 13 February 2013. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
  13. Kim Hoo-ran (27 October 2016). "Troubling revelations about Seoul's 'Shadow President': The Korea Herald columnist". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 28 October 2016.
  14. "Park taps art professor as culture minister". Yonhap News Agency. 3 August 2014. Archived from the original on 24 January 2017.
  15. "Park's trusted confident named new culture minister". Yonhap News Agency. 16 August 2016. Archived from the original on 21 January 2017.
  16. "Minister profile". ROK Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. 2015. Archived from the original on 21 January 2017.
  17. Jung Nok-yong (23 January 2017). "Culture Minister Resigns After Arrest". The Chosunilbo. Archived from the original on 24 January 2017.
  18. Yu Jung-in (10 June 2018). "취임 1주년 맞은 도종환 문화체육관광부 장관 "평양 갔을 때 '남북공동사전 편찬' 1순위 제안"" [Do Jong-hwan, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, on the first anniversary of his inauguration]. 경향신문 [Kyunghyang Shinmun].
  19. "K-Pop in Korea: How the Pop Music Industry is Changing a Post-Developmental Society" (PDF). Cross Currents. 2013.
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