Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Choi Hwi-young speaks at a press briefing marking the first anniversary of the People’s Sovereignty Government on May 28. Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism
The phrase “opening the era of a 300 trillion won K-culture market” emerged. It was one of the campaign pledges President Lee Jae-myung announced when he ran in the June 3 presidential election last year. Questions immediately arose: What exactly does it mean, and what is the scope of K-culture? Since K-culture refers to “Korean culture,” some wondered whether its scale was only 300 trillion won, or whether it was as much as 300 trillion won. Of course, defining this clearly amid the “election fray” was not easy.
What was readily understandable was the assumption that the goal was to double the K-content market, which stood at 154 trillion won as of 2023, by 2030, the administration’s final year. While doubling it would not be easy, some noted that campaign pledges are simply like that. Even after the Lee Jae-myung administration was launched, the back-and-forth over such slogan-like phrasing continued.
Part of the content presented by the presidential State Affairs Planning Committee at the National Report Session on August 13 last year.
On August 13 last year, the Lee Jae-myung administration’s State Affairs Planning Committee held a “National Report Session” and defined “K-culture,” in relation to the 300 trillion won K-culture market era, as the combination of the content industry and the arts industry, officially stating it was worth 206 trillion won as of 2023. The goal was to increase this to 300 trillion won by 2030. This amounts to a need for average annual growth of 6.5 percent. While the expected growth rate is not low, it is not an enormous target either.
Naturally, other questions followed. The point was whether only content and arts constitute “K-culture.” On December 16 last year, Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Choi Hwi-young said at the ministry’s presidential work report held at the Sejong Government Convention Center in Sejong City: “The existing 300 trillion won K-culture goal is centered on cultural-creative industries such as film, games, and webtoons, which has limits in terms of scalability.” He added, “We are in the process of establishing a comprehensive strategy to expand K-culture larger and more boldly by redefining the industry to include food, beauty, fashion, and tourism.”
About a year after the concept of a “300 trillion won K-culture market” appeared, it was recently finalized—for now, at least. Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Choi Hwi-young disclosed the details at a “Press Conference Marking the First Anniversary of the People’s Sovereignty Government” on May 28.
A view of the “Era of 400 Trillion Won K-Culture” presented by Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Choi Hwi-young at a press briefing on May 28.
He said the concept of the “K-culture market” would be expanded from the existing 300 trillion won to 400 trillion won, and that in this “400 trillion won K-culture market era,” inbound tourism by foreign visitors and exports in the food, beauty, and fashion sectors would be added to the content and arts industries. The scale of this “K-culture” stands at 274 trillion won as of 2025, with the goal of making it 400 trillion won by 2030. Arithmetically, this means it must record a growth rate of more than 9 percent each year.
Setting aside the question of feasibility, whether K-culture encompasses these fields remains ambiguous. The K-culture conceptualized here can only be called unique, existing nowhere else. It can also be interpreted as a target figure created simply to create a target. Can this continue into the next administration, or perhaps until the next minister? If the target deadline is 2030 and it is pursued only until then, that too is regrettable. Should it not break free from the criticism of being a “Lee Jae-myung administration limited edition”?
After the announcement at Minister Choi’s press conference ended, detailed interpretive materials have not yet been released. Fortunately, a month later, I encountered the phrase “400 trillion won K-culture market era” again in a different setting.
New Korea Creative Content Agency President Kim Yun-ji delivers an opening address at the “2026 Content Industry Forum” hosted by KOCCA on June 17. Photo courtesy of KOCCA
It was when Kim Yun-ji, the newly appointed president of the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), delivered an opening address at the “2026 Content Industry Forum” hosted by KOCCA on June 17. However, President Kim, too, offered no explanation of K-culture, only saying, “K-content is the driving force leading K-culture,” and that through this it “will play a key role in achieving the 400 trillion won K-culture market.”
[Choi Soo-moon’s From the Cultural Capital] examines cultural phenomena unfolding in “Korea,” a global cultural capital, and explores the path it must take to become a true cultural capital.