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Korea to widen cultural exchange with EU

December 9, 2013

Members of K-pop boy band Super Junior perform during their first concert in London early last month. More than 10,000 fans from France, Germany, Poland, Hungary and other parts of Europe flocked to the Wembley Arena to see the much-anticipated event. (Korea Times file)

By Park Si-soo

Korea has vowed to work closely with the European Union to increase cultural exchanges and nurture interrelated industries.

To that end, the government will come up with various measures, including a revision of regulations, for better protection of intellectual property rights, easier traveling for European artists to Seoul and publication of European literature among others. The EU will put the same measures into practice under the Korea-EU free trade accord, which went into effective in July 2011, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Officials from the Seoul government and the EU had a first round of talks on the issues on Thursday in Brussels. In the meeting, the two parties determined the basic rules of procedure and core agendas subject to negotiations. The second round of meetings aimed at detailing the agendas will be held in June 2014 in Seoul, the ministry said.

“This meeting was held while Korean pop music and films are gaining popularity in Europe,” said Song Soo-geun, head of the Korean delegation. “I believe the envisioned exchange programs will help further promote Korean culture in European countries.”

Last month, President Park Geun-hye held a summit with EU leaders — European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Durao Barroso — Brussels and then pledged to strengthen bilateral ties on political, economic and cultural issues.