President Lee Moved to Tears by "When Life Gives You Tangerines" ... "Significant Increase in Investment and Support"

President Lee Jae Myung and First Lady Kim Hye Kyung are taking a commemorative photo with attendees after concluding the meeting with awardees from the cultural and arts sectors held on the 30th at the Fine Glass of the Presidential Office in Yongsan, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

On June 30, President Lee Jae Myung met with cultural and artistic figures and expressed his belief that national-level investment and support should be significantly increased.

On this day, President Lee, together with First Lady Kim Hye Kyung, held a meeting with awardees from the cultural and arts sectors at the Fine Glass of the Presidential Office in Yongsan, discussing the development of the cultural content industry.

The meeting was attended by Park Chunhyou, the writer of the musical "No Other Choice," which won six Tony Awards; Kim Wonseok, director of the drama "When Life Gives You Tangerines"; Heo Gayoung, director of the short and medium-length film "First Summer," which won first prize in La Cinef at the Cannes Film Festival; soprano Jo Sumi; and ballerino Park Yoonjae, among others.

President Lee cited Kim Gu, expressing his intention to expand support for becoming a cultural powerhouse. He said, "Kim Gu once said that his wish was for Korea to become a country with truly strong cultural power," adding, "It feels like we are now at the beginning of the path to becoming the cultural powerhouse Kim Gu envisioned."

President Lee further emphasized, "If we dramatically increase investment and support for culture at the national policy level, provide opportunities to our younger generations, foster this as an industry, and expand globally to enhance Korea's cultural influence, we can become a leading nation on the world stage."

He also remarked with a smile, "I have not been able to appoint a Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism yet. It needs to be someone who can do all of this, but it's difficult to find the right person. I hope you will consider this as well."

Meanwhile, President Lee mentioned the drama "When Life Gives You Tangerines," saying, "While I was thinking about how to create livelihoods, I binge-watched When Life Gives You Tangerines over the weekend and was surprised. It made me realize that developing dramas as an industry could be an opportunity to showcase Korea to the world." President Lee previously drew attention when he revealed that he had shed tears while watching When Life Gives You Tangerines during the presidential campaign.

President Lee added, "We can relate to the conflicts between in-laws and the patriarchal culture of male dominance depicted in the drama, but I wondered if people around the world could also relate. However, it received tremendous empathy and acclaim, even in South America and Europe," he praised.

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