The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's investment in the K-Content Fund will increase from 295 billion won this year to 465 billion won next year. The budget for establishing K-Content complex cultural spaces will also see a significant increase, rising from 500 million won this year to 15.5 billion won next year.
On September 5, the Ministry unveiled its 2026 budget proposal, centered on expanding investment in K-Content. The proposed budget for next year is 7.7962 trillion won, up by 729 billion won (10.3%) from this year. This is the largest increase since 2020. The Ministry stated that the expanded budget aims to accelerate the growth of K-Culture and further increase opportunities for the public to enjoy K-Culture.
By sector, the budget for culture and arts will be 2.6388 trillion won, an increase of 256.4 billion won (10.8%) from this year. The content sector will receive 1.6103 trillion won, up 26.5% from this year. The tourism and sports sectors will be allocated 1.474 trillion won and 1.6795 trillion won, respectively, representing increases of 9.4% and 0.3% compared to this year.
The Ministry explained that the budget was strategically allocated according to three main goals: promoting the content industry as a national strategic industry to usher in the era of 300 trillion won for K-Culture; expanding opportunities for cultural and artistic enjoyment and strengthening artistic creation and welfare; providing sports that everyone can enjoy; and creating a tourism environment accessible to all citizens.
The Ministry plans to expand infrastructure and provide funding to foster the growth of the content industry, enabling the creation of high-quality "K-Content" such as the globally popular "K-Pop Demon Hunters." In addition to increasing the K-Content Fund investment, a new budget of 500 million won has been allocated for a basic research study on building medium- to large-scale performance arenas.
To promote the content industry as a national strategic sector and actively respond to the changing industrial environment, the Ministry will expand the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and technological support in the K-Content industry. A new budget of 7.5 billion won has been allocated to support the transition to AI in the game production environment. The budget for supporting the production of broadcasting and video content for online video services (OTT) will increase from 30.3 billion won this year to 39.9 billion won next year. The AI content production support budget will also be expanded to 23.8 billion won, about three times more than this year.
Investment in culture and the arts will also be significantly expanded. A new financial support program for the arts industry will be established to help arts enterprises build credit and collateral capacity. An artists' welfare fund will be created to provide customized welfare programs tailored to the diverse professional characteristics of artists, including low-income, freelance, and group-affiliated artists. The budgets for financial support in the arts industry and the artists' welfare fund have been newly allocated at 25 billion won and 5 billion won, respectively.
A new budget of 18 billion won will be allocated to support young K-Art creators, expanding support for young artists who will lead the future of K-Culture.
Support will also be expanded to build on the global achievements of K-Art, such as recent Nobel Literature Prize and Tony Award wins. The budget for supporting K-Musicals will increase from 3.1 billion won this year to 24.1 billion won next year. The budget for supporting K-Literature will rise from 9.9 billion won this year to 20.6 billion won next year.
The budget will also increase to support regional access to high-quality performances and art exhibitions by national organizations, which have traditionally been held in Seoul. The budget for supporting the regional distribution of performances and exhibitions will rise from 56.1 billion won to 97.1 billion won, and the budget for K-Museum regional tours and exhibition support will increase from 700 million won to 8.2 billion won.
Policy financing support to promote the growth of the sports and tourism industries will also be greatly expanded. In the sports sector, a new tech fund worth 10 billion won will be established to foster technology innovation companies. In the tourism sector, a loan program worth 640.5 billion won and a tourism enterprise development fund worth 73 billion won will be created.
The budget for worker vacation support will increase from 7 billion won to 10.7 billion won, and the budget for overseas advertising to expand the inbound tourism market will rise to 34.5 billion won.
In the sports sector, the budget for the renovation and repair of public sports facilities will increase from 65.9 billion won this year to 88.3 billion won next year to expand opportunities for participation in sports for all. An additional 3 billion won has been newly allocated to foster prospective national athletes and strengthen support for elite sports.
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