Cultural Policy in South Korea ─ Making a New Patron State

The control of, and promotion, of culture have been bound up with politics in Korea to a surprising degree. From the period of Japanese colonial rule (1910-45) through the immediate post-war and Korean War periods to the authoritarian regimes of the 1970s and 1980s, cultural policy was used by successive governments to help define national identity, and, more recently, to project soft power abroad. This book traces the development of cultural policy in South Korea, highlighting this strong connection to wider government policy. Amongst many other subjects, the book discusses how the arts have largely relied on government, rather than an artistically aware middle class, for financial support; how the cultural industries engaged with the democratisation movement in the 1970s and 1980s; how more recent governments have promoted greater autonomy for the cultural sector; and how, alongside recent social and economic changes, including increasing multiculturalism, Korean arts have boomed in the twenty-first century, and have become an international phenomenon, especially in Asia.

Hye-Kyung Lee is a Lecturer in Cultural and Creative Industries at King’s College London, UK