Naju is a city in South Jeolla Province, South Korea.
The contemporary culture of South Korea developed from the traditional culture of Korea which was prevalent in the early Korean nomadic tribes. By maintaining thousands of years of ancient Korean culture, with influence from ancient Chinese culture, South Korea split on its own path of cultural development away from North Korean culture since the division of Korea in 1945. The industrialization, urbanization and westernization of South Korea, especially Seoul, have brought many changes to the way Korean people live. Changing economics and lifestyles have led to urbanization—a concentration of population in major cities, with multi-generational households separating into nuclear family living arrangements. Today, many cultural elements from South Korea, especially popular culture, have spread across the globe and have become some of the most prominent cultural forces in the world.
K-pop, short for Korean popular music, is a form of popular music originating in South Korea as part of South Korean culture. It includes styles and genres from around the world, such as pop, hip hop, R&B, rock, jazz, gospel, reggae, electronic dance, folk, country, disco, and classical on top of its traditional Korean music roots. The term "K-pop" became popular in the 2000s, especially in the international context. The Korean term for domestic pop music is gayo, which is still widely used within South Korea. While "K-pop" can refer to all popular music or pop music from South Korea, it is colloquially often used in a narrower sense for any Korean music and artists associated with the entertainment and idol industry in the country, regardless of the genre.
The Korean Wave or Hallyu is a cultural phenomenon in which the global popularity of South Korean popular culture has dramatically risen since the 1990s. Worldwide interest in Korean culture has been led primarily by the spread of K-pop and K-dramas, with keystone successes including BTS and Psy's "Gangnam Style", as well as Jewel in the Palace, Winter Sonata, Boys Over Flowers (2009) and Squid Game. The Korean Wave has been recognized as a form of soft power and as an important economic asset for South Korea, generating revenue through both exports and tourism.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is a central government agency of South Korea responsible for the areas of tourism, culture, art, religion, and sports. It has two vice ministers, three assistant ministers, one commission, and over 60 divisions. The first Minister of Culture was novelist Lee O-young.
Sejong or Sejong City, officially the Sejong Special Self-Governing City, is a special self-governing city and the de facto administrative capital of South Korea.
Yu In-chon is a South Korean actor and the current Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism under president Yoon Suk Yeol, the position which he previously held under president Lee Myung-bak. He was formerly the Special Presidential Adviser on Culture and Sports.
The King Sejong Institute is a foundation established by the South Korean government that encourages learning of the Korean language around the world. It was founded in 2007. Its name refers to Sejong the Great, the inventor of the Korean alphabet. As of February 2024, there were 248 King Sejong institutes in 85 countries.
Sejong University is a private university located in Seoul, South Korea known for its standing in hospitality and tourism management, dancing, animation and rhythmic gymnastics. Founded as the Kyung Sung Humanities Institute, it was renamed in 1978 to its present name in honor of Sejong the Great, the fourth king of the Joseon Dynasty and overseer of the creation of the Korean alphabet Hangul.
SOREA Band (Korean: 소리아밴드) is a K-pop Girl Group that bases their music on Traditional Korean musical instruments. They mix Korean traditional music with a variety of genres like Pop music and Jazz and communicate with the world through Korean ethnic music.
Starship Entertainment is a South Korean entertainment company founded in 2008 and became an independent subsidiary of Kakao Entertainment in 2013. It is also called one of the "five major agencies" in the pop music world, with SM Entertainment and YG Entertainment leading the way.
The Korean Culture and Information Service is an affiliated organization of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the South Korean government and runs 32 Korean cultural centers in 27 countries. The goal of the organization is to further enhance the image of Korea's national brand by promoting Korean heritage and arts through these cultural centers.
Korean Cultural Centers are non–profit institutions aligned with the Government of South Korea that aim to promote Korean culture and facilitate cultural exchanges.
The Export–Import Bank of Korea, also commonly known as the Korea Eximbank (KEXIM), is the official export credit agency of South Korea.
Moon Hee-jung is a South Korean television screenwriter. She is best known for writing the dramas Last Scandal, Smile, You, Listen to My Heart, and Missing You.
Kim Yong-hwa is a South Korean filmmaker. His works included Oh! Brothers (2003), 200 Pounds Beauty (2006), Take Off (2009) and Mr. Go (2013).
The Korean Popular Culture and Arts Awards is an annual South Korean government-run awards ceremony hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's Korea Creative Content Agency. The ceremony, which was first held in 2010, "honor[s] those who have made a contribution to contemporary pop culture and the arts, including actors, singers, comedians and models."
The Korean Cultural Center, Mexico City, is a non-profit Korean language and cultural exchange center in Polanco, Mexico City. It is supported by the South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and run by their KOCIS organization. The center opened on March 13, 2012, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between South Korea and Mexico. It was the twenty-third Korean Cultural Center opened in the world, and the fourth in North America. With approximately 30,000 K-pop fans in Mexico City at the time, the Ministry projected that the new center would "combine forces with them to spread K-pop to all over the country and play a role as a bridge between the two cultures".
South Korea is 5th largest export economy in the world and the 6th economic complexity according to Economic Complexity Index (ECI) with the top export destinations centralized in China with a total population of 51,324,823 in 2019.
