Minister Yu mulls strategies to boost Korea’s image with overseas culture chiefs

Culture Minister Yu In-chon kick-started a four-day meeting Monday with chiefs from the ministry’s overseas cultural centers to discuss interagency coordination on promoting South Korea.

Thirty-five cultural center heads and officials from seven promotional centers across 34 countries took part in the in-person gathering in Seoul.

The event follows an announcement by the Culture Ministry two weeks ago on the launch of an office to replace the previous cultural agency, which was criticized for its ineffective campaign on boosting Korea’s cultural reach and impact.

“The Culture Ministry should step up support for global outreach in the arts, content, sports and tourism, all the while thinking of the ‘culture industry,’” Yu said in a statement on the same day.

“For that to happen, intra and interagency cooperation, as well as public-private cooperation is essential. That’s why we opened the new International Cultural Affairs and Public Relations Office,” Yu added.

The office will spearhead efforts to raise Korea’s global profile and overseas cultural centers will do their part along the way, according to Yu. Officials from the Foreign Ministry also attended the four-day meeting to discuss how to best advance overseas promotion of Korean culture.

Participants also included officials from bodies run by the ministry, like Arts Council Korea, the Korea Creative Content Agency and the Korea Tourism Organization. Lectures were given on how to put together a lasting policy to create a cultural foothold matching Korea’s status globally, a task Yu took over in October.

“We will have all the opinions voiced at the meeting reflected in our policy going forward, so our cultural centers around the world can work on what they do best,” Yu said.