Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Allocates 157.2 Billion Won Supplementary Budget to Support Jobs for 15,100 People

Hwang Hee, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced on the 2nd that it has allocated an additional budget of 157.2 billion KRW to overcome the employment crisis caused by COVID-19 and support the affected industries.

This supplementary budget supports the creation of 15,100 jobs to alleviate employment instability in major sectors severely impacted by COVID-19, such as performing arts, popular music, tourism, and indoor sports facilities. The performing arts industry saw a 91% decrease in sales in December last year compared to the same period the previous year due to 'social distancing' and 'seat distancing.' The popular culture industry suffered massive damage with about 600 performances canceled since February last year. Accordingly, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism plans to dispatch essential professionals in cultural and artistic creation, planning, and management to help restore the industry ecosystem. The performing arts sector will support 3,500 people (33.6 billion KRW), and popular music performances will support 2,000 people (22.8 billion KRW). To support indoor sports facilities that have repeatedly faced gathering bans and business restrictions, employment support will be provided for 6,800 private sports facility trainers (69.4 billion KRW).

In addition to professional personnel support, future-oriented workforce support projects considering the new normal after COVID-19 will also be promoted. To help promising domestic content companies in broadcasting and film expand overseas, the ministry will support the selection and hiring of 1,000 localization personnel (11.3 billion KRW) who can assist with overseas promotion, translation, and dubbing. In the tourism sector, a budget of 3.4 billion KRW has been allocated for 300 online promotion personnel for 'performances targeting foreign tourists,' and 4.5 billion KRW for 400 advanced technology personnel specializing in holograms and online conference platforms to respond to the increasing demand for non-face-to-face international meetings.

Furthermore, the Ministry will invest 38.4 billion KRW through changes and increases in the operation plans of funds under its jurisdiction, including culture, arts, film, tourism, and sports, to support damage in each field and make proactive investments in preparation for the post-COVID-19 era.

In the cultural sector (Cultural Arts Promotion Fund), 5 billion KRW has been increased to support venue rental fees, easing the management burden of about 800 private performing groups and 100 small theaters. The Film Development Fund has also been increased by 15.3 billion KRW to promote the recovery of the stagnant film industry through projects such as supporting venue rental fees for film festivals (8.2 billion KRW), rental fees for small independent art cinemas (3 billion KRW), support for job-linked online new media video content production (3.5 billion KRW), and vocational training for film professionals (600 million KRW).

In the tourism sector (Tourism Promotion and Development Fund), 1 billion KRW has been allocated for the digital transformation of MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) companies and 900 million KRW for strengthening the digital capabilities of MICE workers to proactively prepare for the changed industrial ecosystem after COVID-19.

In the sports sector (National Sports Promotion Fund), 3.1 billion KRW has been increased for a small and medium-sized enterprise growth support project that provides management consulting and marketing support to sports SMEs, aiming to nurture 30 sports SMEs into strong companies. A 'Support for Re-challenge of Closed Sports Companies' project (5.1 billion KRW) will also be promoted to help about 100 prospective entrepreneurs who experienced failures such as business closures due to COVID-19 to restart.

At the government-wide supplementary budget level, disaster relief funds will be provided to minimize blind spots for small business owners, special employment workers, and freelancers. In particular, through the Support Fund for Small Businesses (Ministry of SMEs and Startups), which provides 1 million to 5 million KRW, 5 million KRW will be given to industries under extended gathering bans such as indoor sports facilities and singing rooms, 4 million KRW to industries under eased gathering bans such as winter sports facilities, 3 million KRW to industries under gathering restrictions such as lodging and PC rooms, and 2 million KRW to general (business crisis) industries such as travel and performance sectors. For other general industries with decreased sales, 1 million KRW will be supported as before, but the annual sales criteria for Support Fund eligibility will be raised from 400 million KRW to 1 billion KRW to expand the support target.

The Employment Stability Support Fund for Special Employment Workers and Freelancers (Ministry of Employment and Labor) will provide 500,000 KRW to 700,000 special employment workers and freelancers who received the 1st to 3rd disaster relief funds, and 1 million KRW to 100,000 new applicants. Through this, workers in the cultural and performance sectors as well as leisure and tourism sectors are expected to benefit from the disaster relief funds.

A policy official from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism stated, "As COVID-19 prolongs, major industries such as movie theaters, performance venues, and travel businesses are facing the risk of collapse. We hope that this supplementary budget and additional support measures will help ease the industry's difficulties, and we will continuously supplement any shortcomings by efficiently executing the existing budget this year."