Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism moves to integrate functions of four agencies, launches task force to establish ‘Korea Culture Promotion Agency’

[Financial News] The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) is moving to bring together cultural information, arts and culture education, regional culture and traditional culture functions scattered across four affiliated agencies and establish the tentatively named ‘Korea Culture Promotion Agency.’ The plan is to improve cultural services in response to the expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) and demographic changes.
According to the MCST, the task force for the proposed establishment will hold its first meeting on the 12th. Participants include ministry officials, representatives of the agencies slated for integration, and legal and labor experts.
The agencies slated for integration are the Korea Culture Information Service Agency (KCISA), the Korea Arts & Culture Education Service (KACES) and the Regional Culture Promotion Agency. From the Korea Craft & Design Foundation (KCDF), the Traditional Culture Promotion Division and the Hanbok Promotion Center will join.
The integration follows the government’s ‘Public Institution Functional Reform Plan,’ announced on September 3. The restructuring plan also includes a proposal to merge KCDF’s craft and design division and the Culture Station Seoul 284 team into the tentatively named ‘Korea Culture and Arts Industry Promotion Agency.’
Since September, the MCST has gathered the agencies’ views through meetings. The task force plans to finalize the agency’s name and prepare draft amendments to relevant laws. It will also discuss plans for the new agency’s organizational structure and staffing.
Myeong Su-hyeon, the MCST’s director of cultural policy and a co-head of the task force, said, “The purpose of this integration is to effectively connect the expertise and resources dispersed across the individual agencies and provide cultural services that meet the public’s expectations. We will continue to support the integrated agency so that it can respond quickly and effectively to the public’s diverse needs.”

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