The content sector budget is to increase by 1.5%, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (hereinafter referred to as MCST) announced that the budget for 2025 has been set at 7 trillion 1214 billion won, which is an increase of 1669 billion won, or 2.4%, compared to last year. When looking at each sector, 2 trillion 409 billion won has been allocated for the cultural arts sector, which is an increase of 407 billion won from last year’s budget and holds the largest share among the sectors. The content sector is allocated 1 trillion 299.5 billion won, an increase of 1.5% from the previous year. The tourism sector is allocated 1 trillion 347.9 billion won with a 2.4% increase, and the sports sector is allocated 1 trillion 675.1 billion won with an increase of 587 billion won from last year’s budget.
MCST explained that they prioritized three principles in preparing the budget, focusing on securing a solid foundation for the future of K-culture, enhancing competitiveness in the cultural industry to achieve the status of a ‘world cultural power,’ and enriching people’s daily lives with culture.
To strengthen attracting foreign capital to the Korean content industry, the government will start with a 40 billion won initial investment and establish a new ‘Global League Fund’ worth 100 billion won. Direct financing support for the tourism industry will be increased, and the scale of financing support for the sports and tourism industries will also be significantly expanded.
For the gaming industry, 155 billion won will be allocated to support console games, which are relatively weak in domestic base, for new market development, an increase of 87 billion won from the previous year. For the overseas expansion of cartoons and webtoons through IP (intellectual property) discovery and production support, 135 billion won will be allocated.
Furthermore, to protect copyrights for the sustained growth of K-contents, MCST will strengthen activities such as combating copyright infringement with Interpol (12 billion won, up by 9 billion won), enhancing tailored overseas copyright protection schemes through vouchers (9 billion won, up by 5 billion won), and expanding the budget for fostering basic technology in the copyright industry (164 billion won, up by 36 billion won).