Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Confirms 184.4 Billion KRW for First Supplementary Budget This Year... Supporting Jobs for Over 18,000 People

An Additional 220 Billion KRW in Direct and Indirect Financial Support Beyond the Supplementary Budget

Hwang Hee, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced on the 26th that the first supplementary budget for this year has been finalized at 184.4 billion KRW. This amount is 27.2 billion KRW higher than the supplementary government budget of 157.2 billion KRW submitted to the National Assembly on the 4th.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will support the creation of 17,940 jobs across various sectors to alleviate industry management difficulties and resolve employment instability. It will support the hiring of professionals in the performing arts and popular culture industries, which suffered significant damage due to performance cancellations and sharp declines in audience and sales following the spread of COVID-19. By sector, support will be provided for hiring 3,500 people in performing arts (33.6 billion KRW), 2,000 in popular music performances (22.8 billion KRW), 10,000 trainers in private indoor sports facilities (100.5 billion KRW), and 400 professionals in small independent broadcasting and video production companies (4.5 billion KRW).

Future-oriented workforce support projects considering the ‘new normal’ after COVID-19 will also be promoted. To support the overseas expansion of domestic content companies, the ministry will fund the hiring of 800 localization personnel (9 billion KRW) capable of overseas promotion, translation, and dubbing, as well as 600 digital professionals in the performance sector (6.8 billion KRW). In the tourism sector, a budget has been allocated to hire 240 online promotion personnel (2.7 billion KRW) for ‘performances targeting foreign tourists’ and 400 digital professionals (4.5 billion KRW) in the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) industry to respond to the increased demand for non-face-to-face and online international conferences.

The budget for small business support funds in the culture, sports, and tourism sectors (supplemented by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups) has also been expanded. Businesses subject to gathering bans such as indoor sports facilities, singing rooms, and winter sports facilities will receive support ranging from 4 million to 5 million KRW, while businesses subject to gathering restrictions such as lodging and PC rooms will receive 3 million KRW. During the National Assembly’s review of the government’s supplementary budget, the scale of support for management crisis industries such as travel and performance sectors was also increased.

During the National Assembly’s review, support types for industries in management crisis were subdivided according to the level of sales decline. Industries such as travel, with an average sales decrease of 60% or more, will receive 3 million KRW, while industries such as performance, event, and exhibition sectors with an average sales decrease of 40% or more will receive 2.5 million KRW. Additionally, general cultural sector businesses with annual sales under 1 billion KRW that experienced sales declines will receive 1 million KRW per business.

In addition to the 184.4 billion KRW supplementary budget projects, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism plans to invest an additional 38.4 billion KRW through changes and increases in the operation plans of funds under its jurisdiction, including culture and arts, film, tourism, and sports, to support sector-specific damage relief and proactive investment in preparation for the post-COVID-19 era. The support scale by sector is 5 billion KRW for culture and arts, 15.3 billion KRW for film, 9.9 billion KRW for tourism, and 8.2 billion KRW for sports.

Furthermore, considering COVID-19 damage, indirect financial support to help the tourism industry overcome the crisis will be provided, such as extending the repayment deferral period by one year for businesses (880 companies, totaling 181.5 billion KRW) that received repayment deferrals on tourism fund loans last year.

A policy official from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism stated, “As COVID-19 prolongs, major industries such as performance venues, travel, and sports facilities are facing the brink of collapse. We hope that this supplementary budget and sector-specific fund investments will help alleviate industry management difficulties and stabilize employment for workers, and we will ensure prompt execution to aid in overcoming damages on the ground.”

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