Korea to host World Gyeongju Forum on culture-led growth in October

South Korea's culture ministry said Tuesday it will hold the 2026 World Gyeongju Forum on Oct. 8-9 at the Hwabaek Convention Center in Gyeongju, bringing about 700 domestic and international experts together to discuss sustainable international cooperation in the cultural and creative industries.

The forum, hosted jointly with the Korea Foundation for International Cultural Exchange, North Gyeongsang Province and the city of Gyeongju, builds on the outcomes of the 2025 APEC summit in Gyeongju and its high-level dialogue on cultural industries. Under the theme "Shared Prosperity and Shared Growth Led by Culture in a Global Transition," it will run four main tracks — cultural and creative industries and youth, regions and the world, digital and artificial intelligence, and history and culture — plus a special track and eight cooperation programs.

"Gyeongju is a city with a thousand years of history and the historic site of last year's APEC summit, which declared culture a core economic driver for humanity's sustainable future," Culture Minister Choe Hwi-young said. "I hope the World Gyeongju Forum will produce concrete measures to carry out the Gyeongju Declaration and set a new milestone for shared prosperity spanning culture and industry, nations and generations."

The opening ceremony will feature keynote speeches from two scholars. Pier Luigi Sacco of the University of Chieti-Pescara in Italy will speak on South Korea's emergence as a strategic leader in a multipolar global cultural and creative ecosystem. Andy Pratt, an emeritus professor at City St George's, University of London, and a UNESCO chair in the global creative economy, will address the social and cultural development and economic prosperity that can flow from linking culture and the cultural industries. A special panel discussion will follow, with the keynote speakers joined by Kim Yun-ji, president of the Korea Creative Content Agency, and Cho George-eun, director of the Oxford University Korean Studies Center.

The four tracks will continue on Oct. 9. In the morning, the cultural and creative industries and youth session will discuss talent exchange for shared growth with participants including Jason Bevan, a former development executive at Warner Bros. Pictures. The regions and the world session, featuring Korean history lecturer Choe Tae-seong, will examine ways to build international brands from local historical and cultural assets.

In the afternoon, the digital and AI session will explore how creators, industry and institutions can coexist in the age of artificial intelligence, with Seoul National University professor Lee Kyo-gu among the speakers. The history and culture session, joined by Pratt, will debate sustainable futures opened by living heritage.

On the sidelines, the foreign ministry and the city of Gyeongju will host the third FEALAC Cultural Cities Network meeting, alongside an APEC anniversary seminar and a Korea-ASEAN sustainable innovation program. Other side events include a robotics exhibition on the coexistence of humans and technology, a traditional tea culture program and special performances prepared by the Gyeongbuk Culture and Tourism Organization.

The forum is open to the public, with detailed information available on its official website.