UCLA
Center for East Asian Studies
Japanese Youth and Popular Culture
October 21, 1998
Daily Yomiuri Website || Korean Youth Culture || News File Index
Daily Yomiuri
South Korea Lifts Ban on Japanese Pop Culture
(Akihiro Ito) South Korea on Tuesday announced it will officially liberalize the importation of Japanese pop culture, including movies, videos and cartoons.
According to the decision, made in a morning Cabinet meeting at the Blue House, the official residence of the South Korean president, Japanese movies and videos will be permitted immediately, as will the marketing of publications, including Japanese comic books and magazines.
Academic books, as well as books on arts and literature, are already imported by South Korea.
Liberalizing further areas will be discussed at a planned bilateral joint council on cultural exchange, to be established later, said South Korean Culture and Tourism Minister Shin Nak Yun.
South Korean President Kim Dae Jung also stressed the necessity of liberalizing imports of Japanese popular culture.
In his speech at a ceremony commemorating Culture Day, Kim said loosening Seoul's policy toward Japanese popular culture would further stimulate Korean culture.
Tuesday's move marked the first time the South Korean government officially approved imports of Japanese pop culture since the two countries normalized diplomatic relations in 1965.
Shin, speaking at a press conference after the Cabinet meeting, said further areas of liberalization will be chosen from those that have high cultural value and are not closely connected to the "past history" between Japan and South Korea.
The decision is expected to help significantly improve bilateral relations at the grassroots level.
Movies to be immediately liberalized will be limited to:
* Those produced jointly by Japan and South Korea.
* South Korean movies in which Japanese actors appear.
* Japanese movies that win awards at the Cannes Film Festival, the Venice International Film Festival or the Berlin Film Festival, as well as those winning Academy Awards.
The sale of movies on video is limited to only those movies that are allowed to be shown in South Korea.
Although Japanese comic books and magazines will now be permitted, they are to be screened since South Korean law does not permit publications with violent themes or obscene sexual acts.((c) 1998 Daily Yomiuri)
