FKI Suggested Establishing the “Chief Presidential Secretary for Culture”

The Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) requested to establish the “guarantee insurance specializing in the cultural industry,” which will provide financial support and build the favorable investment environment of the cultural industry in order to nourish the industry which includes films and animations. Furthermore, FKI suggested creating the position of “chief presidential secretary for culture,” where one would orchestrate the cultural industry policies of the whole government.

On December 7 in the report: “Policy recommendations for the strong cultural industries in Korea,” FKI said, “In developed countries, the guarantee insurances specializing in the cultural industry are generalized to provide services such as financing, risk-sharing and cost management for projects including films. In Korea, we need to launch the program by cooperating with related foreign insurance companies or forming joint investments.”

If this scheme is launched, the guarantee insurance company will guarantee the debt obligation by entering into an agreement with the producing companies, such as a film maker, and then issue a letter of guarantee to the financial institutions. The financial institutions provide loans to the producers in the letter of guarantee and distribution rights.

In addition, FKI suggested that the “presidential secretary for culture” build the system where related ministries, including the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MCT), Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) and Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MCIE) cooperate.

In the case of the digital contents industry, there are four institutions in charge -- the Korea Game Development & Promotion Institute and Korea Culture and Contents Agency under the supervision of MCT, Korea IT Industry Promotion Agency under MIC and Korea Institute of Design Promotion under MCIE. FKI claimed that we need an organization to orchestrate the interaction between the institutions.

smhong@donga.com