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From censorship to active support: The Korean state and Korea’s cultural industries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Seung-Ho Kwon  and
Joseph Kim
Seung-Ho Kwon*
Affiliation:
Korea Research Institute, The University of New South Wales, Australia
Joseph Kim
Affiliation:
Korea Research Institute, The University of New South Wales, Australia
*
Seung-Ho Kwon, Korea Research Institute, Australian School of Business, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia. Email: s.kwon@unsw.edu.au
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Abstract

This article examines the phenomenal growth of Korean cultural industries and their export to East Asia and other parts of the world. In the early years of industrialisation, culture was used by the authoritarian regime as a form of ideological support. Strict controls were exercised over cultural production and presentation. Controls were later relaxed as the regime used entertainment and sport as popular distractions. However, the increase in television ownership, the growth of domestic electronics and home appliance industries, and rising incomes (especially among the middle class) provided the material base for the growth of cultural industries following democratisation in the 1990s. Cultural industries became key drivers of economic growth, innovation and employment, and were strongly promoted and supported by government in the style of the developmental state. The result was burgeoning production and international trade across a wide spectrum of cultural industries – film, television drama, animation, video games and music. As a reflection of the increasing integration of Korea into world markets, the government also had to ensure compliance with international trade regulations and clamp down on piracy. Today, the Korean Wave of popular culture has reached consumers in all parts of the world and makes a significant contribution to Korean gross domestic product and exports.

Keywords

L16L52Cultural industriesdevelopmental stateKorea
Type
Symposium Articles
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 24 , Issue 4: Symposium - The East Asian Developmental State , December 2013 , pp. 517 - 532
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2013

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