Neoliberal Reform, Policy Changes and Transformation of Cultural Industries: The Case of South Korea

Until new millennium, South Korean cultural industries were small, weak, and very limited in its scope and capacity. But the economic crisis and subsequent IMF-induced neo-liberal reform had transformed them dramatically to become a major part of the national economy, exporting their products world-wide. This paper will trace the transformation process of South Korean cultural industries for the past two decades to determine what factors are responsible for it, focusing especially on changes in cultural policy both domestic and neighbor which have led  to a new form of the interaction between the state and the culture.