1

The Hallyu policies of the Korean government*

Received: Febuary 21, 2022

Revised: June 3, 2022

Accepted: June 20, 2022

Butsaban Kamon
Faculty of Arts, ChulalongKorn University, Thailand
kamon1932@hotmail.com

*
This study is supported by the Faculty of Arts Research Fund, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University,
Thailand

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Abstract
The purpose of this study is to analyze the Korean government’s Hallyu policies by
period to identify how each administration’s policies have affected the spread and development
of the Korean Wave. To this end, this study analyzed the main contents of the Korean
government’s Hallyu policies over the thirty-year period from the Kim Young-sam
administration to the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, based on the primary and secondary
sources. The Kim Young-sam administration first implemented a system for promoting the
cultural industry while the Kim Dae-jung administration laid the legal and institutional basis
for cultivating the cultural industry and implemented the Hallyu policies through exporting
Korean Wave contents. The Roh Moo-hyun administration reorganized the administrative
bodies related to the cultural industry and strengthened their functions. The Lee Myung-bak
administration implemented development-oriented policies focusing on selective contents
products with high potentials for growth. The Park Geun-hye administration established
private advisory bodies, such as the Hallyu 3.0 Committee, and the Moon Jae-in administration
actively pursued the New Southern Policy and the policies for promoting the New Hallyu to
facilitate the sustainable development of the Korean Wave. The Yun Seok-yeol administration
plans to expand Korea’s global influence by nurturing K-contents and build a solid media and
content industry. Over the thirty years, the Korean government has channeled significant
nation-level efforts to foster the cultural industry by implementing suitable policies at the right
times, spearheaded the sustainable development of the Korean Wave.

Keywords: Korean government, Hallyu policy, Cultural industry, Development of the Korean
Wave

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1. Introduction
In the recent years, we have witnessed the whole world going in a craze for Korean
cultural contents, referred to as K-contents. With Korean pop (K-pop) singers, such as BTS
and Black Pink, and K-contents, such as The Squid Game, Hellbound, and All of Us Are Dead,
becoming global hits, the Korean Wave or Hallyu has been gaining even greater influence in
the global market. Hallyu or Korean Wave refers to the global popularity of Korean culture,
such as K-Pop and TV dramas. The term Hallyu was first used in the early 90s after Korean
entertainment culture gained great popularity in China. In the beginning, Hallyu is used in
relation to numerous Korean cultural practices, mainly including TV drams, K-Pop, and movie
stars. But Hallyu is increasingly expanded to include not only K-Pop and TV drams but also
Korean lifestyle such as food, cosmetics, fashion and so on (Kim, 2007, p.47).
The Korean Wave we see today is called the ‘New Hallyu’ for opening a new chapter
of the Korea’s global cultural influence. In this context, this study begins with the question,
“Why should we pay attention to the Korean Wave?”
From one of the poorest countries in the world after Japan’s colonial occupation and
the Korean War, Korea achieved rapid economic growth and became largest economies in
Asia and the world. Korea’s rapid economic growth is dubbed the ‘Miracle on the Han River’
and has long been a role model for economic development for developing countries. Now, the
Korean Wave is called the ‘Second Miracle on the Han River’ for making something that was
once unimaginable and people on the other side of the world are going head over heels about
BTS, studying Korean, and watching Korean dramas. From embracing and admiring the
cultures of the United States and Japan, Korea now exports its culture to the world and
attracting attention of global citizens.
Korea’s cultural contents industry has become the country’s key engine for economic
growth. The economic value and market size of the Korean Wave have increased every year,
and the growing recognition of and preference for Korean products in the global market
through Hallyu stars and contents have enlarged the sales volume of Korean products. It is for
this reason that the Korean Wave has been considered as an important policy agenda for
Korea’s national economy.
The Korean Wave has been playing a decisive role in building Korea’s soft power and
enhancing the country’s image and brand power in the international community. Since Korea faces
limitations in stockpiling hard power, it is not surprising that using Hallyu to maximize the country’s
soft power has become a critical policy task for increasing the country’s power and influence in the
world. Joseph S. Nye first introduced the concept of Soft Power, which is the opposite concept of
Hard Power such as military power and it is the power to attract people through charm to induce

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consent and cooperation. The Soft Power is composed of its culture, political value, and foreign
policy (Nye, 1990). Korean Wave has played a crucial role in increasing the power of Korean
culture, and that is Korea’s Soft Power. From a destitute country that had received aid just half a
century ago and a country in the peripheries, Korea is now standing at the center of the global
cultural market, becoming a role model again for developing countries.
The factors behind the Korean Wave’s success can be roughly divided into the
competitiveness of individual K-contents, the role played by entertainment companies in the
advancing of K-pop into the global market, the development of information technology (IT) and
digital social networks, and the Korean government’s strategic policies. Some view the Korean
Wave is an ‘undesigned success,’ rather than a success achieved through government-led strategies,
as was the case of Korea’s economic growth. When the Korean TV series The Squid Game was
released on Netflix in September 2021 and became Netflix’s number one most viewed contents in
94 countries, there were diverse opinions about the factor behind this success. Some attributed it to
Netflix’s bold investment strategy, while others highlighted The Squid Game’s storytelling, such as
the incorporation of Korea’s traditional play culture, the Korean sentimentality, and realistic and
relatable storyline, or the good balance between globalization and localization. While the success of
the Korean Wave cannot be pinpointed to just one factor, this study pays attention to the role played
by government policies, which has received relatively little attention compared to other factors.
The purpose of this study is to analyze the Hallyu policies of the Korean government in
terms of how they influenced the development of the Korean Wave over time. There have been
many attempts to explain the Korean Wave’s success, but many existing studies have argued the
changes in the media environment as the main factor or analyzed the success of individual genres,
such as K-pop, rather than looking at the Korean Wave as a whole. According to Cho and Sim
(2013), Choi and Park (2015), and Jang (2019), prior to the late 2000s, the Korean Wave mainly
depended on local distribution networks for delivering K-contents, but the spread of the New
Hallyu was based on social network services, such as YouTube, iTunes, Facebook, and Twitter,
which enabled the worldwide distribution of K-contents and enabled the Korean Wave to spread
further and wider. On the other hand, Jeong (2013) and Noh (2012) argued that the Korean Wave’s
success in overseas markets was due to the high quality of K-contents, which was supported by
entertainment companies that held global auditions to discover new talents and tailored the cultural
contents they produced to the global market.
Meanwhile, Kim (2007) summarized the success factors of the Korean Wave into
three. First, the Korean Wave was the outcome of Korea’s economic strength, which enabled
the country to achieve economic success and create high-quality cultural products based on its
achievement of rapid industrialization in the late 20th century. Second is the quality of Korean

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Wave content, particularly the image of a “Dynamic Korea” that was created by the Korean-
style development model of realizing economic development under an authoritarian
government then transitioning to democracy. According to Kim, the idea of Korea as a country
that achieved economic development as well as democratization and has a thriving civil
society lying underneath the contents of Korean movies and TV dramas is a source of
attraction. At the same time, cultural contents that feature Korea’s unique cultural values, such
as A Jewel in the Palace (Dae Jang Geum), was met with popular reception. Lastly, there are
also claims that the Korean Wave contents are products based on American culture, added
with a Korean touch, and its success was achieved by chance by targeting a niche market.
To summarize, previous studies have found the reasons for the Korean Wave’s success
in the rapid changes in the IT environment and the resultant spread of digital technology and
Internet and mobile communication, and the high quality of the music, artists, and contents
created by innovative entertainment companies, such as SM, YG, and JYP.
This study examines the Korean government’s Hallyu policies, an area that has been relatively
neglected in Hallyu research, as a success factor of the Korean Wave and hypothesizes that the
government’s active intervention and leadership were indispensable the success of the Korean Wave,
just as they had been for Korea’s economic development. The Korean Wave’s success was not
accidental – it was founded upon the Korean government’s strategic policies and roles. The spread of
the Korean Wave did not only bring positive effects but also caused an opposing ‘anti-Korean Wave’
all over the world. Furthermore, various political, economic, and social interests are intertwined in
cultural exchanges between countries. For example, China enforced a government ban on the Korean
Wave after the deployment of THAAD on the Korean Peninsula in 2016, and an anti-Korean Wave
movement occurred in China. Government policies seek to find the best path to maneuver through
such difficult diplomatic situations and propose a solution. In other words, while the quality of Korean
Wave contents and the efforts of individual companies were important, the government’s policies were
also critical in maintaining and continuing the spread of the Korean Wave.
The analysis of the Korean Wave’s success and the role of government policies was done
empirically based on a survey of literature. Primary sources were used to examine the Korean government’s
policies by period and were supplemented by secondary sources. The Korean government began to pursue
cultural policies since the 1960s, but it was during the Kim Young-sam administration (February 1993-
February 1998) that the cultural industry was fostered in earnest. Thus, this study sets over thirty-year period
from the early 1990s up to the Moon Jae-in administration as its scope of research and concentrates on the
main policies pursued by each administration during period. The Yun Seok-Yeol government did not
implement specific Hallyu policies because it was a new government, but this study will deal with the big
picture of the Hallyu policies that the Yun Seok-Yeol government intends to lead in the future.

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2. Korea’s Hallyu Policies

2.1 Kim Young-sam Administration (February 1993-February 1998)
The Kim Young-sam administration that took office in 1993 placed strong emphasis on
‘cultural industry’ and ‘cultural welfare’. In July 1993, the government announced the “Five-Year
Plan for the Promotion of New Korean Culture” and suggested five policy pillars and laid out
specific policy tasks. The fourth policy task, “Supporting the development of the cultural industry
and the revitalization of corporate culture,” provides a glimpse into the early stages of the Korean
government’s Hallyu policies (KOFICE, 2018, pp.106-107). Since it was first necessary was form
a specialized body within the government to establish and implement Hallyu policies, the Cultural
Industry Bureau in charge of Hallyu policies was created within the Ministry of Culture and Sports
as a part of the government's efforts to foster high value-adding industries, especially in terms of
the industrial and economic potential of culture and the arts.
With the establishment of the Culture Industry Bureau, various policies were
implemented to support and promote domestic cultural contents, such as publications, movies,
games, and music. Also, in the Culture Vision 2000 announced in 1997, the government
included “cultivating the cultural industry and culturalizing industries” and “globalizing
Korean culture” as a part of the visions for the country’s future. However, the evaluations of
the Kim Young-sam administration’s cultural policies tend to view that, while the policies
recognized the necessity and importance of developing the cultural industry, they did not lead
to the execution of specific plans (Kim, 2009, pp.77-78).
The Kim Young-sam administration’s policies for supporting the promotion of exports
related to the Korean Wave were limited to the participation in and support for overseas exhibition
markets and expositions. As the Korean cultural industry was not yet equipped with global
competitiveness, the most urgent task at the time was to make Korean contents known in the
global market. Some examples of the activities done in this area were setting up exhibition booths
in events run by overseas broadcasting programs, such as MIP-TV, MIP-CON, and Shanghai
International Television Festival, the setting up and operating the Korean Pavilion at the
International Book Fair in 1995; and running the very first Korean Pavilion at the MIDEM
ASIA97 Music Expo held in Hong Kong in 1997. Also, the Busan International Film Festival was
launched in September 1996, which continues to contribute in raising the international status of
Korean films. In the field of animation, the Seoul International Cartoon and Animation Festival
was held in August 1995, and in the field of games, the first international video games trade show
called the Korea International Video Game Hardware and Software Exhibition (Amuse World)
was held in 1995. Amuse World changed its name to KAMEX games trade show since the 2000s,
and in 2005, the name was changed again to G-Star and ushered in an era of online games.

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Efforts to make Korea known abroad through broadcasting began in earnest when the
Korea International Broadcasting Foundation was established in 1996, followed up by the
launch of Arirang TV in 1999. The Korea International Broadcasting Foundation mainly
conducted international exchanges and cooperation in relation to broadcasting, wit h more
focus on publicizing Korea overseas than promoting mutual exchange.
2.2 Kim Dae-jung Administration (February 1998-February 2003)
It was during the Kim Dae-jung administration that the term “Korean Wave” began to be
used in earnest. Called a “Culture President,” President Kim Dae-jung sought to abolish the
censorship of culture and arts and guarantee the freedom of creative expression, separate and expand
the Ministry of Culture as an independent government agency and secure 1% of the national budget
for the Ministry of Culture, and designate the cultural industry as Korea’s core industry. When the
Korean TV drama What Is Love, which was broadcasted on China’s CCTV in 1997, became
extremely popular in China, the export of broadcasting contents that were realized by individual
business efforts was set as an area for government policy support from 1998. In December 1998, the
Korea International Broadcasting Foundation’s Video Contents Export Support Center carried out a
project to support the post-production separation of music and effect (M&E) in Korean broadcasting
contents to facilitate dubbing and captioning by broadcasters in foreign countries. This project
handled around 1,500 TV programs in 2002 alone. Support was also provided for producing foreign
language versions of Korean animation programs. To facilitate Korean music’s overseas expansion,
foreign language versions of Korean songs were produced and distributed, and FM radio programs
specializing in Korean music were created and broadcasted in 11 cities in China. These government
policies can be seen as projects carried out for the purpose of developing markets and promoting
Korean culture rather than to secure economic profits (Kim et al., 2017, pp.28-29).
As the exports of certain Korean contents genres increased, government policies gradually
began to focus on reaping economic effects through exports. The Five-Year Plan for Promoting the
Cultural Industry containing Hallyu policies was announced in February 2000. To foster the cultural
industry as a national basic industry, more than 1% of the government budget was allocated to the
cultural sector. In 1999, the Framework Act on the Promotion of Cultural Industries was enacted to
increase the budget of the Cultural Industry Bureau by 6 times from 16.8 billion won in 1998 (Kim,
2009, p.99). Furthermore, as part of the government’s support for fostering the cultural industry, the
Korea Game Industry Development Institute and the Animation Academy were established in 1999, as
well as the Game Academy in 2000, and the Korea Cultural Contents Promotion Agency in 2001. The
Korea Cultural Contents Promotion Agency was put in charge of providing comprehensive support for
the cultural content industry, such as developing high-quality contents in the fields of animation, music,
cartoon characters, comic books, and video games, as well as promoting the development of applied

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technology, providing marketing support, developing policies, and training human resources. The
budget for fostering the cultural industry was further increased to exceed 1 trillion won in 2001,
demonstrating the heightened status and importance of the cultural industry and cultural policies in
Korea (Kim, 2021, p.210).
On August 30, 2001, the government announced the “Support Measures for Cultivating the Hallyu
Industry,” which included expansion for strengthening the international competitiveness of Korean popular
culture; the establishment and operation of the Asian Council for Cultural Contents Exchange for
encouraging the development and promotion of high-quality popular culture contents with the participation
of related industries; the establishment of Hallyu experience halls in Beijing and Shanghai, etc. and
overseas offices of the Korea Cultural Contents Promotion Agency; the creation of a Korean Wave
mecca where popular music, games, characters, and fashion can be exhibited and experienced in tourist-
dense areas, such as Dongdaemun Stadium, in Seoul; and the hosting of bilateral and multilateral cultural
events, such as Korea-China youth music festivals (Ministry of Culture and Tourism, 2001).
In sum, the Hallyu policies from the 1990s to the early 2000s mainly focused on supporting
the localization of Korean cultural contents, such as facilitating the participation of Korean companies
in overseas exhibition markets and expositions, hosting international cultural exchange events, and
partially supporting the post-production work on existing Korean contents. During the Kim Dae-jung
administration, policies were prepared to create economic effects through the exports of cultural
contents, and government bodies and institutions were established, which were given increasingly
larger budgets, to support the cultural contents industry. The establishment of necessary domestic
infrastructure for cultural contents during this period laid the foundation for implementing Hallyu
policies in the years to come.
2.3 Roh Moo-hyun Administration (February 2003-February 2008)
The wider expansion of Korean cultural contents into overseas markets led the government to
view the cultural contents industry as a key driver of the Korean economy, and from 2002, specific
measures to support the cultural contents industry were implemented. The cultural industry was chosen
as one of the top 10 strategic industries for the future of Korea, and the “Policy Vision for the Cultural
Industry to Become a Cultural Powerhouse” was announced in 2003, which set the Korean Wave as a
core policy agenda. Major policy tasks included cultivating creative professionals and developing
technologies, expanding the foundation for content creation, expanding investment and improving the
environment for distributing cultural contents, establishing regional bases for the cultural industry,
expanding the entry into overseas markets and international cooperation, and establishing laws and
institutional systems to support the cultural industry. In pursuing these policies, the Roh administration
emphasized the establishment of a cooperative network among the government, various related
organizations, the private sector, and the academia as shown in Figure 1.

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Become one of the top

five cultural
powerhouses in the
world

Central Government Academia Foster

Self-governing Administrative Private Sector
Create infrastrature Bodies human resources
Strengthen through industry-
Create foundation for Balanced development based investment/R&D university cooperation
creative activities on production/consumption

Figure 1 The cooperative network laid out by the “Policy Vision for the Cultural Industry
to Become a Cultural Powerhouse”

Source: Ministry of Culture and Tourism (2003), “Policy Vision for the Cultural Industry to
Become a Cultural Powerhouse.”
Based on the Asian Council for Cultural Contents Exchange established during the
Kim Dae-jung administration, the Korea Foundation For Asian Culture Exchange (now the
Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange, KOFICE)’ was established on June 4,
2003. The Korea Foundation For Asian Culture Exchange carried out tasks such as publicizing
information related to the Korean Wave and supporting for the entry into overseas markets by
companies in the cultural industry. In the mid-2000s, however, the sluggish growth of cultural
contents exports, especially TV programs and movies that were the major Korean Wave
contents at the time, caused concerns about the strengthen of the Korean Wave. In response,
the Roh administration established an advisory committee on Hallyu policies centered on the
Korea Foundation For Asian Culture Exchange to identify the status and problems of the
Korean Wave and to establish appropriate countermeasures at the national level. The
committee was composed of 25 members who were key figures or experts in not only the
various areas of the cultural industry, such as television, film, broadcasting, and music, but
also in the academic, economic, legal, and media circles. The heads of six agencies and
organizations related to cultural contents, such as the Korea Cultural Content Promotion
Agency, were also included as members.
In the latter half of the Roh administration’s term, the existing policies to support the
export of Korean Wave contents, which were centered on exports to Japan and China, were
supplemented by dividing the overseas expansion of the Korean Wave into three stages and
pursuing differentiated and customized policies by stage and region. <Table 1> summarizes
the supplementation of the policies on the export of Korean Wave contents in the “2006 Main
Policy Tasks.”

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Table 1 Strategies to promote the overseas expansion of the Korean Wave by stage
Stage Region Strategy Specific tasks
Vertical Japan, China, Support the continuous supply of Expand two-way
expansion Vietnam, Hong follow-up contents, reduce anti- exchanges,
(deeper Kong, etc. Korean wave sentiments, and Protect copyright,
influence maximize economic effect conduct
within the → Induce favorable sentiments investigations on
market) about Korea illegal piracy, etc.
Horizontal Taiwan, Thailand, Expand the Korean Wave boom by Hold Hallyu star
expansion Malaysia, actively supporting the entry into events,
(wider Indonesia, etc. market by the private sector, Provide support for
spread promote proper understanding of news coverage on
within the Korean culture → Induce purchase the Korean Wave,
market) of Korean products etc.
Potential Latin America, Actively create a foundation for Support the entry of
for entry Middle East, creating a Korean Wave boom by Korean contents into
Central Asia, distributing Korean cultural the market, focusing
Russia, etc. contents to markets that private on movies and TV
companies are hesitatant to enter dramas that have
due to low marketability, etc. higher popular
→ Induce a boom of Korean receptivity
popular culture
Source: Seon (2006)
Since 2003, the KOCCA has been operating the Culture Content Export Information
System (CEIS) system to support the overseas expansion of Korean cultural contents and has
opened overseas offices in Japan, China, Europe, and the U.S. The Korea Game Industry
Promotion Agency also strengthened its research activities and local support by opening
offices in Beijing and Shanghai, China. These overseas offices regularly provided reports on
overseas content market and export trends. Also, the offices provided loca l support for
publicizing Korean cultural contents and consultations for Korean companies that wish to
advance into the local market and facilitated business meetings with local buyers. This kind of
overseas infrastructure for contents exports, in addition to the infrastructure available in
Korea, led to the qualitative development of the policies related to exporting cultural contents.
The Cultural Powerhouse (C-Korea) 2010 strategies for fostering cultural contents
announced in July 2005 included plans for the intensive cultivation of not only video games,

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movies, and music, which were the core cultural contents, but also the broadcasting industry.
In 2006, laws on the promotion of specific genres of contents (such as music, broadcasting
programs, video games, and movies) were enacted, and governmental efforts to deal with
copyright infringements were put in motion in response to the concerns raised about damages
caused by illegal copying to the profitability of cultural contents and the rising need for
cooperation between countries for copyright protection. For example, a copyright center was
established in China, and a separate budget was set aside for “overseas copyright protection”
for the first time by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in 2006. The government
budget for overseas marketing and export revitalization was also created and implemented in
earnest. In 2005, the government supported Korean TV drama showcases held overseas and
purchased overseas distribution rights for Korean TV dramas from broadcasters to distribute
the contents for free to the Middle East and Africa, where the Korean Wave was less popular.
The Roh administration’s term can be summarized as a period of wider global spread
of Korean Wave and stronger governmental responses to the crises emerging in the process of
the Korean Wave’s overseas expansion. It was also the period when government policies took
clear export-oriented directions. The policies that were pursued built the framework for
supporting all areas of cultural contents exports from strengthening research activities for
building necessary infrastructure overseas, supporting overseas marketing, and protecting
copyrights to gain higher profits through the Korean Wave. When the anti-Korean wave arose
in certain countries, the government established the Korea Foundation For Asian Culture
Exchange to promote two-way cultural exchanges with other countries as well as an advisory
committee on Hallyu policies to prepare the governmental response against the anti-Korean
wave phenomenon. In November 2004, the Korea Foundation For Asian Culture Exchange
started full-scale exchange and cooperation activities by holding the first Asian Song Festival
inviting top singers from Asian countries to perform together. In addition to cultural exchange
activities, the Foundation also expanded its scope of activities to academic exchanges and
research, such as holding Korean Wave forums and publishing a series of papers on the
Korean Wave, and started a project for promoting two-way exchange of cultural contents by
purchasing TV programs from various countries and broadcasting them on domestic cable TV.
Also, overseas cultural centers were transformed into larger ‘Korea Centers’ that provide one-
stop services for the cultural industry and tourism.
2.4 Lee Myung-bak Administration (February 2008-February 2013)
Several Korean cultural contents gained enormous global popularity during the Lee
Myung-bak administration’s term, such as Wonder Girls in 2009, Psy’s “Gangnam Style” by in
2012, and TV dramas My Love from the Star and Descendants of the Sun. Accordingly, Hallyu

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policies became recognized as the main policies that drive the development of the cultural
industry, rather than just being a part of cultural policies.
The Lee administration’s Hallyu policies were geared at the nation-led cultivation of the
cultural contents industry from the view that the contents industry is the industry that will raise
Korea’s per capita gross national income (GNI) to $30,000. Under the goal of “becoming a content
powerhouse leading the creative economy,” the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism
established a Cultural Contents Industry Promotion Committee under the Prime Minister’s office,
which brought together eleven ministries, including the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and
announced the “First Basic Plan for Promoting the Cultural Contents Industry (2011- 2013).” The
main goals set out in this plans were to “increase investments by the government and the private
sector, including large corporations and financial institutions, to expand the funds for the cultural
contents industry, and create new markets through government-wide support for uncovering and
commercializing next-generation convergence contents, and identifying competitive contents
through the Global Contents Fund and support for joint productions,” thereby realizing nation-led
cultivation of the cultural contents industry.
The Lee administration increased the financial support for globalizing the cultural industry
by implementing policies aimed at strengthening the role of fund of funds, providing funds and
building infrastructure to support joint productions with other countries and promote investment,
and investing in specialized investment cooperatives from 2009. In 2011, the Global Contents
Fund was created, and the first round of the fund raised a total of 123.6 billion won (40 billion
won from the government, 83.6 billion won for the private sector and foreign investors), and in
2015, the second round raised 100 billion won (40 billion won from the government, and 60
billion won from private investors).
In 2009, five organizations related to the cultural contents industry (Korea Cultural
Contents Promotion Agency, the Korea Broadcasting and Video Industry Promotion Agency, the
Korea Game Industry Promotion Agency, the Cultural Contents Center, and Korea Software
Promotion Agency) were integrated as the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA). Large-
scale events and large short-term projects are hosted, organized, and sponsored by affiliated
organizations of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, including the Korea Tourism
Organization, Visit Korea Committee, Presidential Council on National Branding, Korea
Foundation for Cultural Industry and Exchange, KOCCA, Korean Culture and Information
Service, and Korea Communications Commission. The Visit Korea Committee not only planned
and hosted the SM Town Paris Concert, but also events such as the Gyeongju Hallyu Dream
Festival, Hallyu Dream Concerts, and the K-Pop Cover Dance Festival. What should be noted
here is that these events were not simply held by local governments; the administrative bodies of

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the central government strategically intervened and sponsored these events as national projects
(Choi, 2014, p.150).
The Korea Foundation for Cultural Industry and Exchange (KOFICE, formerly the Korea
Foundation For Asian Culture Exchange) has gradually expanded the scope of cultural exchanges
beyond East Asia. Starting with the 2009 Pattaya International Music Festival, the Foundation held
the Korea-Mongolia Culture Festival Hanmadang Big Concert, Korea-Thailand Friendship Concert,
and Korea-Vietnam Friendship Concert. The Hallyu forums held by the Foundation were attended
by people from the cultural industries of Korea, Mexico, and Taiwan, and in 2010, the Foundation
supported the journalists in the Middle East region and South Africa to write up reports on the
cultural industry. In this way, the Foundation expanded its reach beyond Asia to emerging markets.
Meanwhile, projects to increase the visibility of Korea by providing high-quality Korean
broadcasting contents to the Central and South Americas, the Middle East, and Africa, where the
private sector was still hesitant to enter due to low marketability, continued to be carried out.
Since the Kim Young-sam administration, the Korean government continued to bolster the
cultural industry by implementing relevant laws, institutions, and policies. The Lee administration
did the same, but the Lee administration’s policies were excessively concentrated on fostering the
cultural contents industry, especially on contents related to the Korean Wave, resulting in the
exclusion of non-mainstream culture and arts (Choi, 2013, p.257). In sum, it can be said that the
Lee administration strategically nurtured specific industries through a growth-oriented policy
model concentrating on expanding investments made by the government, large businesses, and
financial institutions.
2.5 Park Geun-hye Administration (February 2013-February 2017)
The Park Geun-hye administration launched the Hallyu 3.0 Committee, a private advisory
body for ushering in the era of Hallyu 3.0, in March 2014 and the Hallyu Content Planning
Taskforce on June 19, 2015 with the goal to establish a cooperative system with other agencies
and the private sector and strengthen the link between the Korean Wave and other industries for
the diversification of Korean contents (beyond TV dramas and K-pop) in the global spread of the
Korean Wave and of the recipient countries of the Korean Wave. The organizational structure of
the Hallyu Content Planning Taskforce is shown in Figure 2.

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Hallyu Content Planning Taskforce

(Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism/Private sector)

Secretary
(Head of Cultural Contents Industry Division)

Government Ministries Private Sector

(Ministries of Culture, Sports and Tourism/Science, ICT (Heads of key companies by
and Future Planning/Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries/ Korean Wave genre)
Trade, Industry and Energy/Foreign Affairs, Korea
Communications Commission)

Figure 2 The organization structure of the Hallyu Content Planning Taskforce

Source: Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (2015)

The KOFICE’s function of responding to anti-Korean Wave sentiments and expanding

exchanges with overseas cultural industries were strengthened, making it the central institution
in charge of analyzing ways to realize the ‘sustainable development of the Korean Wave’ as
well as the latest issues, trends, and flow of the Korean Wave, functions have been further. The
Foundation’s major tasks included conducting research, building networks with overseas
cultural industries, and running projects to facilitate cultural exchange and support overseas
correspondents. The main projects run by the KOFICE are summarized in Table 2.
Table 2 Main projects of the Korea Foundation for Cultural Exchange (KOFICE)
Research projects Network-building projects Cultural exchange projects
Market research on Hallyu forums and seminars International cultural exchange
cultural industry trends events
Reports on trends in the Building a basis for cultural
Korean Wave, publication contents development
of research papers domestically and abroad
Development of Korea’s Asia Drama Conference Providing chances to
first Hallyu index experience Korean culture to
foreign students in Korea and
teens of multicultural families
Foreign correspondent Inviting journalists from media
recruitment and outlets specializing in culture

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Research projects Network-building projects Cultural exchange projects

management around the world
Hallyu culture information Hallyu Content Planning Support for Korean Wave
system Taskforce communities overseas
Exchange of broadcasting
programs with other countries
Source: Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange (KOFICE) website
However, the policies of the Park administration were still criticized for the commercialization
and one-way advancement of the Korean Wave, and at the end of 2016, the crisis faced by the Korean
Wave intensified as Korea’s diplomatic relations with China made a downward turn.
2.6 Moon Jae-in Administration (May 2017-May 2022)
The most noteworthy aspect of the Moon Jae-in administration’s five-year plan for the
administration of the state is the two-way cultural exchange and the promotion of “good action”
through the Korean Wave, which aimed to increase the number of Korean Wave fans from 60
million at the time to 100 million in 2022 by expanding the cultural contents export market and
related industries together.
China was the biggest market for the Korean Wave, and since the establishment of
diplomatic ties with China in 1992, the two countries have engaged actively in economic,
cultural, and private exchanges. The growing exports of Korean Wave contents and the increase
in inbound tourists from China made China the largest consumer market for Korean culture.
However, when Korea-China relations deteriorated due to the deployment of THAAD on the
Korean Peninsula in 2016, China enforced a government ban on Hallyu, prohibiting Chinese
people from displaying or broadcasting cultural contents produced by Korea or advertisements
featuring Korean celebrities. The government ban on Hallyu was a discriminative law against
Koreans, the Korean economy, and Korean culture that forced Korean entertainers from
participating in commercials, movies, and Korea-China joint productions and banned the import
of Korean contents. In 2017, this government ban was strengthened to censor Korean contents
uploaded to internet platforms, restrict tourism to Korea, and increased customs inspections of
imported Korean cosmetics and food (Kim, 2019).
This situation was major crisis for the Korean Wave-related industries due to the excessive
dependence on the Chinese market. The stock prices of CJ, SM, YG, and JYP fell by more than 30%
after the THAAD deployment. Korean cosmetics and duty-free shops, which were the biggest
beneficiaries of Hallyu, were also affected severely; Amorepacific’s operating profit decreased by 10%
year-on-year in the first quarter of 2017, and the sales revenues of Lotte and Shilla duty-free shops
fell by 40% year-on-year. According to the report issued by the Korea Economic Research Institute

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(KERI) in 2017, the economic damage caused by China’s diplomatic retaliation amounted to 8.5
trillion won, or about 0.5% of Korea’s gross domestic product (GDP) (KOFICE, 2017).
To overcome this crisis, the Moon administration pursued the New Southern Policy, which
turned to the New Southern region comprising a promising market of 2 billion people. The goals
and tasks of the New Southern Policy announced by the government placed special emphasis on
“people,” and set out plans to revitalize domestic tourism by increasing the exchange of tourists,
expand two-way cultural exchanges, set up scholarships for international students, expand the
government invitation of industrial trainees, expand the exchange of public officials and private
sector experts, provide additional support for foreign workers, and provide assistance in poverty
eradication, rural development, and development cooperation in medical services. Also, under the
New Southern Policy, projects were put into motion to strengthen the institutional basis for
promoting trade and investment with the ASEAN countries, support the expansion of Korean SMEs
into the New Southern region with the aim to expand Hallyu marketing, and promote the export of
Korean consumer goods into the market through overseas home shopping channels.
The Moon government tried to improve the obstacles that hinder the global spread of the
Korean Wave while simultaneously inducing a positive ripple effect. In the Policy Plan for Promoting
the New Hallyu announced in 2020, the periodic characteristics of the Korean Wave were divided
into four stages, where the present Korean Wave was defined as the “New Hallyu (K-Culture).”
Policy Plan for Promoting the New Hallyu set forth three strategies and nine tasks for
supporting the Korean Wave, which are presented in Table 3.
Table 3 The strategies and tasks laid out by the Policy Plan for Promoting the New Hallyu
Provide more intensive support for developing cultural contents that
will be competitive on the world stage and support projects to uncover
new Korean Wave contents from Korea’s rich cultural assets
- Viewing overseas Korean restaurants as places that promote
Korean culture as well, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and
Diversification of
Tourism and the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and
Korean cultural
Fisheries set out plans to develop Korean-style interior
contents for the
designs for Korean restaurants abroad
Korean Wave
- Thai and Vietnamese were designated as strategic languages
in addition to major languages (i.e., English) to develop
contents for promoting Korean literature and increase
accessibility to Korean culture in many languages
- Support the production of webtoons that converge new

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technologies, such as face recognition and virtual reality, and

online video services (enhanced support for production of
video contents suitable for the over-the-top (OTT) platforms)
- Establish a studio specializing in the production of realistic
virtual performances so that Korean Wave fans around the
world can enjoy K-pop performances non-face-to-face
Hand-in-hand Establish K-beauty experience centers at major commercial areas,
growth of Korean such as Myeong-dong and Gangnam
Wave-related Engage Hallyu stars for the overseas promotion of Korean agriculture
industries and seafood products
Manage Korean Wave-related policies and information
Build a
Build a favorable perception of the Korean Wave by expanding of the
foundation for the
Korean Wave consumer base and cultural exchanges
sustainable
Establish a Korean Wave database using big data centering on the K-
expansion of the
Culture Cooperation Committee and encourage the use of the database
Korean Wave
by joint ministries and public agencies
Source: Summarized by the author based on Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (2020)
First, the strategy to diversify of Korean cultural contents for the Korean Wave aimed to
find new cultural contents from Korea’s cultural assets outside of popular culture to further the
spread of the Korean Wave. The second strategy to realize the hand-in-hand growth of Korean
Wave-related industries targeted the strengthening of cooperation among related government
bodies through the sharing of information on policies and joint activities to increase the economic
ripple effect of the Korean Wave and realize the growth of related industries. Lastly, the
government sought to build a foundation for the sustainable expansion of the Korean Wave by
establishing official bodies (i.e., the K-Culture Cooperation Committee and working committees)
for overseeing Hallyu policies implemented (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, 2020). To
assist the implementation of these active support policies, a department in charge of supporting the
Korean Wave (the Hallyu Content Cooperation Division) was launched within the Ministry of
Culture, Sports and Tourism for the first time.
Regulations on the composition and operation of the K-Culture Cooperation Committee
(Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ordinance No. 407, March 3, 2020)
① The Committee shall be composed of no more than 25 members including one
chairperson.
② The chairperson shall be the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
③ The members of the Committee shall be those who fall under any of the following

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subparagraphs:
1. Vice Minister of Strategy and Finance, Vice Minister of Education, Vice Minister of
Science and ICT, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vice Minister of Food, Agriculture, Forestry
and Fisheries, Vice Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, Vice Minister of Health and Welfare,
Vice Minister of Oceans and Fisheries, Vice Minister of SMEs and Startups, Vice Chairperson
of the Korea Communications Commission, Vice Minister of Food and Drug Safety, Director
of the Cultural Heritage Administration
2. President of the Korea Creative Content Agency, President of the Korean Foundation
for International Cultural Exchange, President of Korea Tourism Organization, President of the
Korea Culture and Tourism Institute, Chairman of the King Sejong Institute Foundation,
Chairman of the Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation, President of the Korea Trade Promotion
Corporation, Chairman of the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency, Secretary General of the
Korea Foundation for Cooperation of Large&Small Business, Rural Affairs, President of the
Korea Health Industry Development Institute, President of the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food
Trade Corporation, President of the Korean Food Promotion Institute
④ For the efficient operation and support of the committee, one secretary shall be
appointed, and the secretary shall be the head of the Content Policy Bureau of the Ministry of
Culture, Sports and Tourism.
The K-Culture Cooperation Committee is responsible for setting the basic direction and
strategies for Hallyu policies, overseeing and assessing policy implementation, identifying and
promoting collaborative projects among related ministries and organizations, establishing a
cooperation system for the spread of the Korean Wave linking with overseas offices and networks
of each ministry, collecting and reflecting opinions on Hallyu policies, and discussing matters that
require inter-agency cooperation for the sustainable expansion of the Korean Wave.
2.7 Yoon Seok-yeol Administration (May 2022-)
Immediately after taking office, the Yoon Seok-yeol administration announced its 120
national tasks and announced its ambition to rise beyond the advanced countries to become a world-
leading nation by strengthening the influence of the Korean wave. K-content, which is receiving
attention from all over the world, is nurtured as a super-gap industry. To this end, the Ministry of
Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Korea Communications Commission, and the Ministry of Science
and ICT will promote the establishment of a control tower for the media and content industry. By
supporting policy finance, the Yoon administration will foster global content IP (intellectual property
rights) companies and create a creator-centered fair environment. Also, they plan to strengthen
systematic support such as nurturing talents by genre such as K-pop, games, and dramas, and help
support overseas expansion of K-contents by establishing overseas advance bases (Won, 2022).

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3. Conclusion
From the Kim Young-sam administration to the newly launched Yoon Seok-yeol
administration, the Korean government has channeled significant nation-level efforts to foster
the cultural industry and realize the globalization of Korean culture. From the early stage of
the Korean Wave to the current New Hallyu stage, the government has assisted the spread of
the Korean Wave through specific policies to increase exports of Korean Wave -related
products and expanding cultural influence of the Korean Wave as well as responsive policies
to crises such as anti-Korean wave. Hallyu policies were initially spearheaded by the Ministry
of Culture (and its varied names in consecutive governments), but gradually engaged the
participation of other government ministries, private sector experts, specialized institutions,
private companies, and academia. The areas dealt by Hallyu policies expanded from initially
concentrating on popular culture (such as broadcasting programs, music, and movies) to all
aspects of Korean culture, including the cultural arts and traditional culture. The consumer
markets for the Korean Wave also expanded from being centered on China and Japan to
various other regions of the world, including Southeast Asia, North America, the Central, and
South Americas, and Europe.
Although the Hallyu policies pursued by each administration differed in terms of their
contents and goals, what they shared in common was the recognition of the cultural industry as a
driver of economic growth. Based on this recognition, diverse policies reflecting the needs of the
times were implemented to expand and develop the Korean Wave. As hypothesized in the
introduction, the success of Korean Wave and the role of the government are closely intertwined.
It can be seen that the role of the government is similar to the way Korea achieved economic
growth in the 1970s. Korea's economic development plans well understood the problems of the
Korean economy and suggested effective solutions. In addition, the policy contents were drafted,
revised, and implemented in line with the rapidly changing global economic trend and global crisis
such as oil crisis. The Economic Planning Board (EPB) of Korea, the core institution of economic
development plan, was positioned above other economic ministries and had the power to reconcile
conflicting interests and implement the plan well. Besides, the strong will and support of the
government made each institution to cooperate and operate efficiently. Korean economic
bureaucrats who participated in economic development maximized the efficiency of economic
development by demonstrating their leadership in their respective fields. In the latter period, not
only government officials but also private experts were involved to formulate economic policies
(Butsaban, 2019). Likewise, from the beginning of the Korean Wave to a global phenomenon, the
government's Hallyu policy has changed and developed in a timely manner. In the case of Korean
dramas, which was the starting point of the Korean Wave, the government implemented a policy

Journal of Language and Culture Vol.41 No.2 (July - December 2022)

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of exporting dramas to demanding countries. During the period of the K-POP craze, the K-POP
promotion policy was strongly promoted. The government increased the Hallyu budget and
established base institutions to form governance in which government agencies, private
organizations and experts participate. The Korean government’s role and policies were especially
critical in times of crisis, such as Chinese government’s ban on everything Korean.
The Korean government’s timely implementation of policies and intervention in each
stage of the Korean Wave helped the Korean Wave to develop to what it is today and
positioned Korea as a world-leading country in the field of culture, while also supporting
mutual growth through two-way cultural exchanges with other countries that look beyond
national interests.

Notes
\1
Five policy pillars: ① from regulation to autonomy, ② from central to regional, ③ from
creation to nostalgia, ④ from division to unification, ⑤ to a wider world
Five policy tasks: ① Establishing the national spirit, ②Vitalizing local culture and providing
equal cultural welfare, ③ Enhancing cultural creativity and improving the environment for
cultural development, ④ Supporting the development of the cultural industry and the
revitalization of corporate culture, ⑤ Creating the hankyoreh (one people) culture and
realizing the globalization of Korean culture
2
Ministry of the Interior and Security, Presidential Archives’ Records Collection, Policy
Records, Cultural and Civilian Government: The period under 14th President Kim Young-sam
(February 1990-February 1998) https://www.pa.go.kr/research/contents/policy/index0606.jsp
3
Oh Chun-ho (1997), “The first Korean Pavilion for related industries at the world’s largest
MIDEM ASIA97 Music Expo in Hong Kong”, The Korea Economic Daily (May 15, 1997)
https://www.hankyung.com/life/article/1997051501511
4
Kim Ji-young (2017), “[Back to the Dong-A/September 13] The Busan International Film
Festival launches in 1996”, Dong-A Ilbo (September 13, 2017) https://www.donga.com/news/
Culture/article/all/20170913/86309961/1)
5
Song In-hwa (2021), “From a ‘Korean games trade show’ to the top games exhibition in
Korea”, Viewers (November 15, 2021) http://theviewers.co.kr/View.aspx?No=2113915
6
Ministry of Culture and Tourism (2000), “Vision 21 for Cultural Industries: The Five-Year
Plan for Promoting the Cultural Industry.”
7
Ministry of Culture and Tourism (2001), “Support Measures for Cultivating the Hallyu
Industry.”
8
Ministry of Culture and Tourism (2003), “Policy Vision for the Cultural Industry to Become

Journal of Language and Culture Vol.41 No.2 (July - December 2022)

 21

a Cultural Powerhouse.”
9
Ministry of Culture and Tourism (2005), “C-Korea 2010.”
10
Chosun Ilbo (2004), “The first Asia Song Festival to be held on the 26th” (November 24,
2004) https://www.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2004/11/24/2004112470323.html
11
Cultural Contents Industry Promotion Committee (2011), First Basic Plan for Promoting the
Cultural Contents Industry (2011- 2013).
12
Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (2011), “Ministry of Culture creates a Global
Contents Fund sized 123.6 billion won.” https://www.mcst.go.kr/kor/s_notice/press/press
View.jsp?pSeq=11745
13
SBS News (2009), “Aiming to become a ‘Reputable Country of Culture’…Plans to
intensively support core contents” (December 16, 2009), https://news.sbs.co.kr/news/endPage.
do?news_id=N1000685141
14
National Planning Committee (2017), Five-Year Plan for State Administration of the Moon
Jae-in Government.
15
Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (2021), The state briefing on the New Southern
Policy, https://www.korea.kr/special/policyCurationView.do?newsId=148853887

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