Culture ministry awards 40 staff for K-culture work

The culture ministry said Wednesday it awarded a total of 71 million won ($53,299) in special performance bonuses to 40 employees for work that raised the standing of Korean culture abroad and improved cultural services at home, including a 1.6 trillion won ($1.2 billion) film and video partnership with France.

The awards, the fifth round this year after March, April, June and September, covered 11 projects, nine of them joint efforts and two individual.

Much of the money went to the team that helped bring the Lumiere Partnership into being, which commits Korea and France to invest 500 million euros each in their own film and video industries over the next five years. The team planned and drove Korea's participation as co-chair of the Lumiere Summit, a gathering France's president proposed for the 140th anniversary of Korea-France ties. Working with France's national film center, the staff designed the programme and the joint statement that launched the partnership, which brought 274 culture ministers, industry leaders and creators from 58 countries.

The same round recognised a push to take a National Museum of Korea costume event nationwide, with 275 teams and 643 people taking part and about 36,000 visits recorded across four regional rounds in Jeonju, Daegu, Gongju and Chuncheon. Other recipients organised a joint government K-expo in Mexico tying K-pop events to food and beauty displays, and designed a new overseas programme for young people that drew 3,171 applicants for 728 places in its first year.

The ministry also honoured the team that raised state funding for public sports centres from 3 billion won per site, a level frozen for about 30 years, to 5 billion won, and introduced a lighter model capped at 15 billion won in total project cost. Staff were also recognised for pushing a rule change to let local bookstores and their cooperatives win public supply contracts without an amount limit, and for this year's Asian Games delegation support, and a culture technology alliance of some 250 organisations launched on Oct. 15.

"I am grateful for the passion and dedication of the staff who have raised the global competitiveness of K-culture and enriched people's lives through culture," Minister Choe Hwi-young said.