Minister Yoon In-chon Meets Literary Community: "Need Skillful Management Amid Limited Budget... Will Increase Next Year"

Yoo In-chon, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, met with figures from the literary community and said, “Although the related budget has been reduced, we will carefully devise ways to compensate by making the best use of the available resources.” He also stated, “We will prepare the budget for the following year ourselves. We plan to discuss thoroughly with the relevant authorities to significantly increase it.”

On the morning of the 27th, at the Artist’s House in Jongno-gu, Seoul, Minister Yoo met with representatives of major literary organizations, writers, literary export agencies, and translation experts. Attendees included Yoo Ja-hyo, President of the Korean Poets Association; Kim Ho-woon, Chairman of the Korean Novelists Association; Moon Jeong-hee, Director of the National Korean Literature Museum; Kwak Hyo-hwan, Director of the Korean Literature Translation Institute; Kim Hee-soon, CEO of Eric Yang Agency; and translator and Hankuk University of Foreign Studies professor Jung Eun-gwi. The main topics of discussion were budget issues related to literary creation, work support, and overseas export.

Minister Yoo In-chon of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is greeting key figures in the literary world on the 27th at the Artist's House in Jongno-gu, Seoul.
[Photo by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism]

Kwak Hyo-hwan, Director of the Korean Literature Translation Institute, expressed regret over the budget cuts to the Translation Institute. He said, “Two weeks ago, author Han Kang received the M?dicis Foreign Literature Prize, one of France’s four major literary awards. Over 200 Korean literary works are introduced overseas annually, and among them, 4 to 5 works receive awards,” adding, “We need to row while the tide is rising, but it is disappointing that next year’s Translation Institute budget has been cut by 14%.”

Moon Jeong-hee, Director of the National Korean Literature Museum, requested support for the National Korean Literature Museum, scheduled to open in 2026. She said, “Even when we receive donated materials, there is no storage space. It is important to continue archiving Korean literary materials for 10 to 20 years,” and urged, “The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism should actively intervene to resolve the issue of the Eunpyeong-gu literary museum site, which has been delayed due to donation and lease problems.”

In response, Minister Yoo said, “If possible, I would like to cut the tape (for the opening ceremony) while I am still in office,” and added, “We will prepare by creating a festival-like event for the literary community.”

The Sejong Books program was also mentioned during the meeting. Minister Yoo said, “We select 900 new Sejong Books annually, but I’m not sure if all 900 are truly excellent books. Ideally, I would like to select only genuinely outstanding books,” but he also noted, “I’ve heard that many publishers close if they are not selected for the Sejong Books program, so it is difficult to make decisions because of the challenges in selection.”

Other agenda items discussed included the controversy over the sale of the building of the Arts Center of the Korean Federation of Artistic and Cultural Organizations, proposals for establishing the Kim Sowol Literature Museum, restructuring of literary magazine support projects, and the actualization of manuscript fees. In particular, poet Park Kwan-seo lamented, “Less than 10% of literary magazines pay fees, and manuscript fees have remained the same for decades despite prices increasing tenfold.”

At the conclusion of the meeting, Minister Yoo said, “We will do our best to improve the issues you have raised,” and added, “Please trust us. We will strive to give hope to the literary community.”

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