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Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism
문화체육관광부; 文化體育觀光部; Munhwa Cheyuk Gwangwang-bu
	; MCST headquarters in Sejong City
Agency overview
Formed	February 29, 2008
Preceding agencies	Ministry of Culture and Information (1968–1990); Ministry of Culture (1990–1993); Ministry of Culture and Sports (1993–1998); Ministry of Culture and Tourism (1998–2008); Ministry of Information and Communication (Digital Contents affairs only) (1994–2008); Government Information Agency (1999–2008);
Jurisdiction	Government of South Korea
Headquarters	Sejong City, South Korea
Minister responsible	Yu In-chon;
Deputy Ministers responsible	Yong Ho-seong – 1st Vice Minister of Culture, Arts and Religious Affairs; Jang Mi-ran – 2nd Vice Minister of Sports, Tourism, Policy Promotion;
Child agency	Cultural Heritage Administration;
Website	mcst.go.kr

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST; Korean: 문화체육관광부) is a central government agency of South Korea responsible for the areas of tourism, culture, art, religion, and sports. It has two vice ministers, three assistant ministers, one commission, and over 60 divisions. The first Minister of Culture was novelist Lee O-young.^[2]

Subsidiary entities such as the National Museum, the National Theater, and the National Library are under the Ministry.

The headquarters are located in the Sejong Government Complex in Sejong City.^[3] The headquarters were previously in Jongno District, Seoul.^[4]

History

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism was originally a sub-organization of the Ministry of Education created in 1948. Later, the Ministry of Transportation set up a tourism department. The Ministry of Information was set up in 1961 for administration of art and cultural affairs. The Ministry of Culture and Information became the Ministry of Culture in 1990.^[5]

In 1993, the Ministry of Culture was integrated with the Ministry of Youth and Sports to become the Ministry of Culture and Sports. In 1998, as part of government reorganization efforts, the Ministry of Culture and Sports was replaced by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. It was created to invest in and support the entertainment industry, as Korea needed new areas of growth in the wake of the Asian financial crisis in the 1990s.^[6]

President Kim Dae Jung put forth industrial policies supporting entertainment with the same regard as traditional industrial sectors such as manufacturing. Investments were made in both infrastructure and technology to support K-pop, including concert halls and visual effects technology. In addition, government regulation of karaoke bars favored K-pop.^[7] The government believes that promoting Korean pop culture would improve people's view of the country and help with business and tourism.^[8]

The Ministry developed the Korea Open Government License (KOGL), a copyright license that allows for the use and distribution of public materials.^[9]

In 2012 the Ministry established an advisory committee on how to sustain the Korean wave (Hallyu).^[8] In 2013, the Ministry allocated 319 billion won (US$280 million) to support Hallyu.^[10]

Mission and budget

The ministry has justified its Hallyu budget by linking it to Korea's "export-led economic development". In 2012 it estimated that the Korean wave was worth US$83.2 billion, of which US$5.26 billion was attributable to K-pop.^[10]

Some in the K-pop industry have criticized the ministry for not directly supporting K-pop while fattening related industries such as Hangul, K-drama, Korean food, fashion, sports, and traditional folk music. These interest groups that have been lobbying the government for inclusion in the Hallyu budget.^[10]

Korean Culture and Information Service

The Korean Culture and Information Service is a department of the MCST that aims to bring Korean culture closer to the rest of the world while improving the national image of Korea. It is also responsible for setting up more than 20 Korean Cultural Centers around the world.^[11]

List of ministers

No.	Portrait	Name	Term of office			President
No.	Portrait	Name	Took office	Left office	Time in office	President
Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism (2008-present)
44		Yu In-chon	29 February 2008	26 January 2011	2 years, 332 days	Lee Myung-bak
45		Choung Byoung-gug	27 January 2011	16 September 2011	232 days
46		Choe Kwang-shik	17 September 2011	10 March 2013	1 year, 174 days
47		Yoo Jin-ryong^[12]^[13]^[14]	11 March 2013	16 July 2014	1 year, 127 days	Park Geun-hye
48		Kim Jong-deok^[15]	20 August 2014	4 September 2016	2 years, 15 days
49		Cho Yoon-sun^[16]^[17]^[18]	5 September 2016	20 January 2017	137 days
50		Do Jong-hwan^[19]	16 June 2017	2 April 2019	1 year, 290 days	Moon Jae-in
51		Park Yang-woo	3 April 2019	10 February 2021	1 year, 313 days
52		Hwang Hee	11 February 2021	12 May 2022	1 year, 90 days
53		Park Bo-gyoon	13 May 2022	7 October 2023	1 year, 147 days	Yoon Suk-yeol
54		Yu In-chon	7 October 2023	Incumbent	1 year, 82 days	Yoon Suk-yeol

Notes and references

^ ROK Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism website: History of Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Archived 2011-07-23 at the Wayback Machine.
^ "Lee O Young". Korean Literature Now. Literature Translation Institute of Korea.
^ "Location." Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Retrieved on January 1, 2014. "Government Complex-Sejong, 388, Galmae-ro, Sejong-si 339-012, Republic of Korea"
^ "Location." Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. April 23, 2012. Retrieved on January 1, 2014. "Address: 215 Changgyeonggung-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul, 110-360 Korea"
^ The ministry was established on 3 January 1990 by Presidential Decree Number 12895. "About MCST: History". Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Archived from the original on 4 August 2016.
^ Hong, Euny (5 August 2014). The Birth of Korean Cool: How One Nation Is Conquering the World Through Pop Culture (1st ed.). New York: Picador. ISBN 978-1-250-04511-9. OCLC 881387185.
^ "How the South Korean Government Made K-Pop a Thing". National Public Radio (NPR). 2015.
^ ^a ^b "How Korean Bureaucrats Turned K-Pop into a National Symbol". PRI. 2013.
^ "공공누리". www.kogl.or.kr. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c "K-Pop in Korea: How the Pop Music Industry is Changing a Post-Developmental Society" (PDF). Cross Currents. 2013.
^ "Greetings from the Director". Korean Culture and Information Service. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
^ "Minister profile". ROK Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. 2013. Archived from the original on 2 October 2013.
^ "Yoo Jin-ryong, a respected and seasoned cultural bureaucrat". Yonhap. 13 February 2013. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
^ Kim Hoo-ran (27 October 2016). "Troubling revelations about Seoul's 'Shadow President': The Korea Herald columnist". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 28 October 2016.
^ "Park taps art professor as culture minister". Yonhap News Agency. 3 August 2014. Archived from the original on 24 January 2017.
^ "Park's trusted confident named new culture minister". Yonhap News Agency. 16 August 2016. Archived from the original on 21 January 2017.
^ "Minister profile". ROK Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. 2015. Archived from the original on 21 January 2017.
^ Jung Nok-yong (23 January 2017). "Culture Minister Resigns After Arrest". The Chosunilbo. Archived from the original on 24 January 2017.
^ Yu Jung-in (10 June 2018). "취임 1주년 맞은 도종환 문화체육관광부 장관 "평양 갔을 때 '남북공동사전 편찬' 1순위 제안"" [Do Jong-hwan, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, on the first anniversary of his inauguration]. Kyunghyang Shinmun.