{"id":82597,"date":"2025-08-20T14:11:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T14:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/82597\/"},"modified":"2025-08-20T14:11:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T14:11:09","slug":"government-must-not-interfere-in-arts-says-president-lee-jae-myung","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/82597\/","title":{"rendered":"Government must not interfere in arts, says President Lee Jae Myung"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"President <\/p>\n

President Lee Jae Myung, second from right, speaks on a panel discussing the future vision of the K-pop industry in Seocho-dong, southern Seoul, in a prerecorded broadcast aired by Arirang TV on Aug. 20. Other panelists included Maggie Kang, writer and director of “KPop Demon Hunters,” members Jihyo and Jeongyeon of K-pop girl group Twice and music producer R.Tee. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]<\/p>\n

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For\u00a0K-pop to grow as a global industry, Korea must expand its performance infrastructure, foster balanced development across the arts and provide decisive government support \u2014 without control or interference, said President Lee Jae Myung during a televised appearance on the Arirang TV special \u201cK-pop: The Next Chapter,\u201d which aired on Wednesday.
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\u201cK-pop may dazzle on the surface, but is its foundation truly solid?” he said. “If it’s to become a pillar of Korea\u2019s national industry, we cannot leave it to individuals or companies alone. It is the government\u2019s role to build strong roots.\u201d
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President Lee has consistently emphasized the importance of K-culture since taking office. He declared on Monday that, \u201cIf peace is the foundation of economic stability, K-culture is a new engine for national power,\u201d vowing to grow the related market to 300 trillion won ($215 billion).
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At the center of that vision is the K-pop industry.
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\u201cMusic comforts and encourages people in difficult times,\u201d he said. \u201cDuring hard periods, people sang \u2018Sangloksu [Evergreen Tree],\u2019 written by Kim Min-ki and sung by Yang Hee-eun. People need moments of solidarity, empathy and joy. Culture and the arts provide that.\u201d
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\"President <\/p>\n

President Lee Jae Myung, center, speaks on a panel discussing the future vision of the K-pop industry in Seocho-dong, southern Seoul, in a prerecorded broadcast aired by Arirang TV on Aug. 20. Other panelists included Maggie Kang, writer and director of “KPop Demon Hunters,” members Jihyo and Jeongyeon of K-pop girl group Twice and music producer R.Tee. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]<\/p>\n

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“At the same time, I feel a sense of responsibility [in K-pop’s struggle to expand],” the president said, expressing\u00a0regret over Korea\u2019s lack of large-scale concert venues compared to Japan. \u201cAs governor of Gyeonggi, I tried to build the Ilsan Arena, but the plan fell through. If building new venues is difficult, we should at least consider modifying existing spaces.\u201d
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He also stressed the importance of supporting the fine arts.
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\u201cFor a great tree to grow, the field around it must be well-tended,\u201d he said. \u201cSupport and cultivation across the full spectrum of the arts, including the fine arts, are essential. Without a strong foundation, the cultural industry is a castle built on sand. Opportunities must be evenly distributed so that new talents and products can emerge.\u201d
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Citing former President Kim Dae-jung\u2019s cultural philosophy \u2014 \u201cSupport without interference\u201d \u2014 President Lee underscored the need for government restraint.
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\u201cFreedom and creativity are essential to the arts, yet political power has an instinct to control,\u201d he said, referencing the so-called “cultural blacklist” scandal during past administrations, where outspoken artists were allegedly put under secret surveillance. \u201cThe government must not interfere but should provide support like watering a plant \u2014 so that creativity and competition can flourish.\u201d
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\"President <\/p>\n

President Lee Jae Myung, third from left, speaks on a panel discussing the future vision of the K-pop industry in Seocho-dong, southern Seoul, in a prerecorded broadcast aired by Arirang TV on Aug. 20. Other panelists included Maggie Kang, writer and director of “KPop Demon Hunters,” members Jihyo and Jeongyeon of K-pop girl group Twice and music producer R.Tee. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]<\/p>\n

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Speaking to director Maggie Kang, who directed the Netflix animated film “KPop Demon Hunters,” President Lee praised the incorporation of Korean cultural elements into the English-language film.
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\u201cYou should feel proud showcasing our culture,\u201d he said. \u201cI was impressed by the use of details like pairing seolleongtang [beef stew] with kkakdugi [white radish kimchi], turning tigers into lovable characters and transforming grim reapers into idols.\u201d
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Director Kang shared that the project didn\u2019t originally start with K-pop in mind, but instead was drawn to Korean elements like grim reapers and yogoe, or monsters.
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\u201cThat led to the \u2018Demon Hunter\u2019 concept, and K-pop was added later,” she said. “From there, it naturally evolved to include oriental medicine\u00a0clinics and bathhouses.\u201d
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Jihyo and Jeongyeon of girl group Twice, who sang the film\u2019s theme song \u201cTakedown,\u201d also shared their thoughts.
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\"President <\/p>\n

President Lee Jae Myung, third from right, speaks on a panel discussing the future vision of the K-pop industry in Seocho-dong, southern Seoul, in a prerecorded broadcast aired by Arirang TV on Aug. 20. Other panelists included Maggie Kang, writer and director of “KPop Demon Hunters,” members Jihyo and Jeongyeon of K-pop girl group Twice and music producer R.Tee. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhen we first performed in the U.S. six years ago, no one recognized us,\u201d they said. \u201cNow, fans greet us in Korean. We\u2019re so thankful.\u201d
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President Lee remarked that K-pop has helped drive global interest in Korean language, food and beauty products. He also promised more foundational support for the arts.
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\u201cNo other formerly colonized country has democratized and industrialized like ours,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve achieved an astonishing transformation in a short amount of time. That will continue to spark curiosity around the world. The more people see Korea, the more fascinating it becomes \u2014 a truly remarkable country of the East.\u201d
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\u201cRather than relying on conventional, surface-level investment, we will rebuild cultural policy from the ground up so that culture can become a central pillar of the Korean economy. Meeting people\u2019s cultural aspirations will be a key task for the future \u2014 and we intend to be among the first to reach that goal,” he added.
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\"President <\/p>\n

President Lee Jae Myung, center, poses for a photo after speaking on a panel discussing the future vision of the K-pop industry in Seocho-dong, southern Seoul, in a prerecorded broadcast aired by Arirang TV on Aug. 20. Other panelists included Maggie Kang, writer and director of “KPop Demon Hunters,” members Jihyo and Jeongyeon of K-pop girl group Twice and music producer R.Tee. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]<\/p>\n

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY HWANG JEE-YOUNG [[email\u00a0protected]<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Lee Jae Myung, second from right, speaks on a panel discussing the future vision of the K-pop…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82598,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,134,136],"class_list":["post-82597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}