Culture Ministry Elevates Tourism Policy Bureau to Office, Establishes Dedicated Content Division

To Be Promulgated and Implemented on December 30
Aiming to Attract 30 Million International Tourists

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will elevate the Tourism Policy Bureau to the Tourism Policy Office in order to strengthen the development of the tourism industry.

The ministry announced that a partial amendment to the “Organization of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Its Affiliated Agencies,” which includes this organizational restructuring, was approved at the Cabinet meeting on December 23. The amended Presidential Decree will be promulgated and implemented on December 30.

The Tourism Policy Bureau will be promoted to the Tourism Policy Office. The structure will be expanded from one director and one policy officer to one office head and two policy officers. Under the office head, there will be a Tourism Policy Officer responsible for overseeing overall tourism policy and promoting regional tourism, and an International Tourism Policy Officer tasked with attracting 30 million international tourists.

A new Culture and Media Industry Office will also be established to oversee content, media, copyright, and international cultural exchange. This new office will consolidate some functions of the former International Cultural Promotion Policy Office, the Content Policy Bureau, the Copyright Bureau, and the Media Policy Bureau.

Under the office head, there will be a Cultural Industry Policy Officer supporting the growth of the content industry, and a Content Media Industry Officer supporting media, film, games, K-pop, and publishing.

In accordance with the “Artists’ Rights Protection Act,” which took effect in September 2022, a new Artists’ Rights Protection Division will also be created to exclusively handle the protection of artists’ rights.

Choi Hwi-young, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, stated, “We have restructured the organization to achieve industrial outcomes based on cultural competitiveness.”