South Korea: Culture Secretary's visit
Published 28 November 2014
© Crown copyright 2014
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/south-korea-culture-secretarys-visit/south-korea-culture-secretarys-visit
This publication was archived on 4 July 2016
This article is no longer current. Please refer to Overseas Business Risk – South Korea
Summary
A big week for UK/Korea relations in IT and the creative industries. Culture Secretary leads big UK presence at major gaming exhibition, helps open new areas for cooperation in the creative sector at first UK/Korea Creative Industries Forum, and sees new technology at Samsung’s 5G demonstration centre.
Detail
The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sports, Sajid Javid, visited South Korea from 18-21 November. The visit took forward agreements made during President Park’s State Visit last year. .
Mr Javid met the Minister of Culture, Sport and Tourism. Kim was interested in UK tax incentives for creative industries as a way of stimulating a more diverse and high quality sector in Korea. He was also interested in the UK’s Olympics experience., . Mr Javid underlined the support UK companies could offer in ensuring a successful 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.
President Park’s Adviser on Future Strategy described how Korea became the world leader on broadband and mobile connectivity, including 300Mbps wifi underground and consistent superfast wifi on high speed (300km/h) trains. .
Mr Javid signed an MoU on architecture cooperation with the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Minister Suh highlighted Korea’s new heritage act, modelled on the UK’s, and the desire for exchange particularly on young talent.
Mr Javid boosted the profile of the UK delegation by speaking at the opening reception of the GStar gaming exhibition. His presence at the official opening ensured the VIP tour with accompanying media finished at the UK pavilion in front of our GREAT sign. The UK presence at GStar has grown but the level of interest and potential in Korea and East Asia more broadly suggests scope for intensifying promotion of the UK gaming sector. E-sports was flagged as a significant growth area - the recent League of Legends World Championship filled the Seoul Olympic stadium with 40,000 paying fans, with millions watching live online.
The Busan International Film Festival Director introduced a Ken Loach/Mike Leigh retrospective at the $100m Busan Cinemateque. The Director is keen to see more British films included in the festival and special exhibitions.
The first UK-Korea Creative Industries Forum, attended by both Culture Ministers, attracted top billing from UK speakers - Tim Davie (CEO BBC Worldwide), Amanda Nevil (CEO BFI), Jo Twist (CEO of UKIE (gaming trade body), Nigel Carrington (Vice-Chancellor UAL), Hasan Bakhshi (NESTA) - and a good range of UK creative companies from virtual reality content providers to animation. Both ministers agreed to hold the next Forum in the UK.
Comment
This was an important piece of State Visit follow-up in a key sector. It showed we can do more to capitalise on the UK’s strong reputation for creativity and share UK experience in ways that support prosperity objectives.
There is much to learn from Korean experience in super and ultra-fast broadband and the potential impact on business and public services.
Disclaimer
The purpose of the FCO Country Update(s) for Business (”the Report”) prepared by UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) is to provide information and related comment to help recipients form their own judgments about making business decisions as to whether to invest or operate in a particular country. The Report’s contents were believed (at the time that the Report was prepared) to be reliable, but no representations or warranties, express or implied, are made or given by UKTI or its parent Departments (the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS)) as to the accuracy of the Report, its completeness or its suitability for any purpose. In particular, none of the Report’s contents should be construed as advice or solicitation to purchase or sell securities, commodities or any other form of financial instrument. No liability is accepted by UKTI, the FCO or BIS for any loss or damage (whether consequential or otherwise) which may arise out of or in connection with the Report.