The new government has ignited great anticipation in the culture and arts sector by designating 'Cultural Powerhouse' and the 'K-Culture Market of 300 Trillion Won Era' as key pledges. This vision is rooted in the aspiration of Baekbeom Kim Gu, who wished for "only one thing infinitely—the power of high culture," aiming to achieve 50 trillion won in cultural exports by 2030 and grow the K-Culture market to 300 trillion won.

Encouraging Vision and Concerns 

Compared to the previous administration's lukewarm or even adversarial cultural and arts policy stance, this blueprint, presented amid the global love for K-Culture across cinema, music, drama, literature, and more, appears quite realistic. The culture and arts community is watching with great expectation to see how the new government's pledges will materialize.

However, a concern is raised that the goal of becoming a cultural powerhouse might be simplistically equated with economic figures such as '50 trillion won in cultural exports' or 'K-Culture market of 300 trillion won.' These numbers are merely a partial result that follows the achievement of being a cultural powerhouse; what's more critical are the concrete support measures to realize this vision and the resultant changes in the lives of the citizens after achieving cultural powerhouse status. There is a critique that the terms currently emphasized in the government's pledges focus heavily on 'OTT platforms,' 'video content,' and 'overseas marketing,' suggesting many policy gaps still need to be filled.

Urgency of Nurturing Basic Arts 

In particular, there is a strong call for systemic support policies and institutional reform for the basic arts. Just as much as focusing on the splendid achievements of the K-Content industry and popular arts, sustained, massive momentum for K-Culture requires solid nurturing of basic arts such as literature, music, and fine arts. This necessitates recalling that the foundation maintaining Japan's status as an economic superpower even during the 'lost 30 years' is its robust basic science, evidenced by Nobel Prizes. The first step toward becoming a cultural powerhouse rests on solid basic arts, and policy support for this is essential.

To this end, measures such as integrating scattered promotion laws for different genres into a Basic Arts Promotion Act to seek comprehensive and systemic policy execution, and reorganizing the Culture and Arts Promotion Act whose essence has become ambiguous, can be considered.

Meanwhile, disappointment remains as the '2.5% increase in cultural budget and basic income for culture and arts professionals' and the '10,000-hour support project for young culture and arts professionals'—present in the 2022 presidential election pledges—have disappeared from the 2025 pledges. Continuous attention and discussion are needed to ensure that foundational policies are not overlooked or relegated to a lower priority behind the brilliant vision.

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