China's state media said Wednesday the worldwide boom of Korean pop music, films and TV dramas, known as "hallyu," was backed by the South Korean government.
China Economic Weekly, a magazine managed and sponsored by the state-run newspaper People's Daily, reported in its latest issue that the South Korean government played a pillar role in the country's so-called "soft power."
Noting the success of Korean pop songs such as Psy's "Gangnam Style" and the Wondergirl's "Nobody," the magazine suggested China could learn from the experience of the neighboring country.
It explained in the report that South Korea has set the cultural industry as one of its key national strategies in the late 1990s, introducing a gradual deregulation process and encouraging the inflow of private capital into cultural industries.
The revitalization of the cultural industry has not only brought benefits to the industry itself but also to the national economy as a whole, the magazine said.
The article also cited Shin Jong-pil, the senior deputy director on the popular-culture industry team at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of South Korea, saying the most important point for the government is to only provide resources.
"The government should minimize its interference, and let the sector develop freely through private capital and strength," Shin was quoted as saying.
Chinese political leaders have been stressing China's need to boost its "soft power" in a bid to remake the country's international image, which is more inclined toward the "hard power" of politics and economic size.
In 2007, Chinese President Hu Jintao defined "soft power" development as a key national strategy.
Confucius Institutes, which promote Chinese language and culture across the world, were seen as one such initiative for advancing China's cultural influence internationally. (Yonhap News)
