K-wave AI News

Hello and welcome to your AI guide to the latest cultural updates from Korea.

Here's our top story.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism plans to invest 51 trillion won, or roughly 37 billion U.S. dollars, over the next five years to turn Korea into one of the world's top five cultural powerhouses.

The initiative, also one of President Lee Jae-myung's key pledges, centers on bolstering the K-content industry, upgrading sports infrastructure to match Korea's status as a major global player, and crafting strategies to position the country as a leading tourism destination. The government also plans to boost the international reach of Korean culture by ramping up support for its overseas expansion.

The inaugural 'MyK Festa,' a large-scale Korean Wave festival, was launched to strong public interest. Kicking off with a dazzling K-pop concert on Thursday, the festival offers a wide range of K-culture experiences--from exhibitions and interactive zones to content industry conferences. Around 100 Korean companies across sectors such as drama, webtoons, food, and lifestyle are showcasing their latest content and products. The event will be held through this Sunday at Seoul's Olympic Park.

K-pop has seen explosive growth on global music platform Spotify, with streams increasing 470-fold over the past ten years. Spotify says the genre's streaming volume grew significantly from 2014 to 2024, with average annual growth hitting nearly 120% in Southeast Asia and 90% in the United States. Riding this global momentum, revenue earned by Korean artists on Spotify more than tripled last year compared to 2019.

That's all from me. Stay tuned to the Kulture Wave.