Korea, the cultural powerhouse
Korea is considered to be a leading cultural powerhouse. Not only Korean dramas and movies, but exhibitions and performing arts are also well-developed in Korea. Following the relaxation in COVID-19 restrictions, the domestic art business is gradually making a comeback, with many art exhibitions being held. Media art is being grafted into the culture of exhibition, and it is gaining popularity among young consumers. The media art market has grown exponentially in recent years. Media art that uses various spaces such as walls and floors is drawing increasing attention.
The Korean musical market has also been generating higher revenues, reaching 100 billion Korean won this year. Culture experts expect the market to grow further. The Korean musical market is considered one of the largest in the world owing to its huge size. There are several major musical production companies, and musical works of various genres are being released every year. In recent years, not only licensed musicals, the copyrights of which have been bought from overseas, but also original musicals made in Korea are being developed. Creative musicals with various genres such as Korean traditional music and hip-hop are becoming popular among masses.
Furthermore, the Korean musical industry is known to have a large fan base. There is a culture of watching the same work several times. In addition, tickets are frequently purchased at second hand markets to watch performances by favorite actors. In particular, the musical "Death Note," a musical based on Japanese comics, became so popular that all seats were sold out within five minutes, and it recorded more than 200,000 viewers.
The reason why the scale of the domestic cultural market is enormous can be attributed to consumers’ willingness to pay for experiencing cultural life. Particularly, the cultural consumption needs of people in their 20s and 30s are immense. According to data from Yes24, a web page selling tickets, women in their 20s and 30s accounted for the biggest consumer group in booking concert or musical tickets. Even though ticket prices reached almost 100–200 U.S. dollars, consumers were willing to pay.
Gap between Cultural Life in Seoul and Non-Seoul
However, there is also a dark side to this boom. The active cultural life is evident only around Seoul. In non-Seoul regions, it is difficult to experience cultural life. Most of the cultural facilities including museums, concert halls, and libraries are concentrated near Seoul while other regions lack such cultural facilities. Therefore, it is common for people living in non-Seoul regions to visit the capital to enjoy cultural activities, which are not available in non-Seoul regions.
According to data from the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism (MCST), among the 3,087 cultural infrastructure facilities nationwide, 1,118 or 36.2 percent are distributed in the Seoul metropolitan area. The gap is more clearly visible according to Naver, the biggest search portal website in Korea. Figures released by Naver showed that 78 percent of searches for “exhibition” came from the capital area, while other areas, non-capital areas, recorded less than 5 percent. Since the standard of cultural facilities is low except in the Korean capital, people living in other areas do not seem to be very interested in cultural life. An official at the data center said even when considering similar age and gender, only people living in the capital have cultural benefits. This reveals that the cultural infrastructure is concentrated in capital areas.
According to MCST, about 40 percent of art museums are located in the metropolitan area, and 297, or 34 percent of 873 museums in the country, are distributed in the metropolitan region. Furthermore, national libraries are also located only in Seoul and the metropolitan area whereas there are no national libraries in provinces. The data also found a lack of cultural industry professionals in provinces.
According to the MCST's "2021 National Culture and Infrastructure Overview," the number of professional arts staff at museums is nearly twice as lower in the provinces as in the metropolitan area. The same holds true for art museums, with the metropolitan area accounting for about 1.5 times more than provinces.
Although the Chungcheong-do region has developed cultural facilities, owing to a lack of professionals to monitor them, performances and exhibitions are not being held. Local newspapers in Chungcheong Province suggested that a shortage of personnel eventually leads to heavy workload, making it difficult to plan high-quality exhibitions and performances. The museum and art museum industries also pointed out that it is imperative to appoint professionals to operate cultural facilities located in provincial areas.
Local crisis
It appears that the people living in suburbs and the countryside have very low satisfaction regarding cultural life. The MCST conducted research targeting the younger generation to evaluate the reasons why they want to leave their hometowns. The first reason was the demand for decent jobs in Seoul. The second was that they felt it was difficult to enjoy a high-quality cultural life in the province, implying that people were also moving out citing cultural reasons. This exodus of the young generation is a serious problem, which many consider could weaken the province. Experts point out that the gap between Seoul and Non-Seoul in Cultural Life will accelerate this exodus.
To understand the situation better, The UOS Times interviewed student H who lives in Chungcheong-do.
Interview
Q. Do you feel that there is a cultural gap between the metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas?
A. Yes, I do. In non-metropolitan areas, only cultures with enough influence to showcase talent nationwide are accessible, and even if it is the same culture, it tends to be of lower quality owing to lack of equipment.
Q. As a resident of a non-metropolitan area, is it difficult to enjoy cultural life? If so, please explain the inconvenience.
A. Personally, I think it is difficult. Although it has its own cultural facilities, there are not many performances in non-metropolitan areas. Even if it is the same exhibition or performance, there is a difference in capacity and demand driven by a diverse local population. It is difficult to ignore the time and cost of visiting the metropolitan area every time you want to enjoy a performance.
Q. Cultural life is said to enrich life and improve the quality of life. Is cultural life important to you? How does it affect your life?
A. I think there are many things that I experience indirectly through cultural life that I have not experienced through other people's thoughts. In addition, cultural life is something that holds your focus for a limited time and helps you overcome miscellaneous negative thoughts related to daily life for a brief period. In this respect, I believe that cultural life plays an important role in expanding the horizon of thoughts and gives vitality to my life.
The necessity of reducing the gap
On Art Insight, a website where journalists can share their opinions about culture, the need to eliminate the cultural gap has been highlighted. All citizens have the right to enjoy a similar level of culture. Culture is not only what makes human life affluent, but also makes the region and nation stronger. Culture has an impact on the development and growth of the area. Furthermore, it is difficult to nurture local artists if people leave provinces and move to metropolitan areas. The concentration of cultural spaces in the capital is driving most artists to Seoul. They cannot enjoy their regional culture in their hometown because of the cultural underdevelopment in the provinces. Therefore, it is difficult for regional groups to sustain a particular culture and succeed with the traditional characteristics of the provinces.
Efforts to reduce the gap
Local governments seem to be aware of the problem of cultural gaps and are attempting to solve them.
In Daejeon, the construction of a city library is in progress. The library is expected to have various facilities, including reading rooms for children, families, and community spaces for youth. Daejeon announced that the purpose of building this library is to eliminate cultural alienation of the inhabitants. In Jeollanam-do, a small movie theater is being constructed, where people can enjoy the latest movies at half the price of a regular movie theater. The number of visitors to small movie theaters in the province reached 180,000 as of 2022, drawing positive responses from residents. Recently, the first performance of “The Phantom of the Opera" was held in Busan. This is a step toward Busan becoming a “musical city.” After the construction of Busan's largest musical theater “Dream Theater,” various large-scale musicals were staged. These long-term performances also had a positive ripple effect on the local economy. Shin Dong-won, the representative of Dream Theater, said that the presence of several staff and actors during stage preparation and performance had a positive impact on the revitalization of the local commercial district.
