Passage of the 'Ateukbeop Amendment'... Momentum for the Asia Culture Center City Development Project

Extension of 5-Year Validity Period for Operation of Asia Culture Center as a National Affiliated Institution Under Current Law

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] With the passage of the partial amendment to the "Special Act on the Creation of the Asia Culture Centered City" at the National Assembly plenary session on the 26th of last month, the Asia Culture Centered City development project has gained further momentum.

Lee Byung-hoon, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, who proposed the amendment to the Asia Culture Act in August last year, received support from Gwangju Mayor Lee Yong-seop, who visited lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties to explain the necessity of the amendment and requested its prompt passage.

The key points of the amendment to the Asia Culture Act include absorbing and integrating the Asia Culture Institute into the Asia Culture Center as an affiliated institution under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, establishing and operating a cultural foundation separately for profitable projects, and extending the validity period of the Act from 2016 to 2031.

With the passage of this amendment, the Asia Culture Center can now be operated as a national institution that absorbs and integrates the Asia Culture Institute, enabling it to focus more on its role as a cultural development hub for content creation and production, research and investigation, and domestic and international exchange and cooperation projects, which have strong public interest.

Furthermore, the 5-year extension of the Act's validity allows the Asia Culture Special Account to be funded until 2031, enabling systematic promotion of the five major cultural zone projects, which are core to the creation of the Asia Culture Centered City, thereby securing Gwangju’s status as a city providing new cultural growth engines for South Korea.

Regarding national government support for the Asia Culture Special Account, 96.4% of the funding was provided for the national direct project of constructing and operating the Asia Culture Center, whereas only 19.5% of the originally targeted support was provided for local government subsidy projects. This year, national government subsidies for local governments amounting to 144.2 billion KRW have been allocated to a total of 31 projects, including the creation of representative cultural villages in Gwangju, UNESCO Media Art Platform, facade content development, smart cultural experience zones, and the establishment of a base space for nurturing Asian art talents.

Earlier, on the 26th of last month, Mayor Lee Yong-seop stated, “The passage of the amendment to the Asia Culture Act is not the end but the beginning. We will do our best to revitalize the Asia Culture Centered City development project, which has been sluggish so far, by closely cooperating with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Asia Culture Center. Additionally, Gwangju City will actively strive to ensure the employment succession of the Asia Culture Institute staff.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.