Music-Centred Urban Development of Tongyeong: How a coastal city tuned economic revival with music
written by idkblanco | 6 min read South Korea's music industry operates within one of the most advanced creative industries globally, contributing billions to the state's GDP each year and sustaining hundreds of thousands of jobs . Following the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis , the South Korean government acknowledged that traditional manufacturing could no longer guarantee economic resilience. As a result, it reoriented its growth strategy toward the cultural industries as export commodities and instruments of soft power. This reorientation aligned with national development strategies such as Segyehwa (globalisation) and the Creative Economy Framework , which sought to merge technology, innovation, and culture to expand South Korea’s global influence. Cultural Policy as Industrial Strategy The rise of South Korea’s music industry was deliberate and policy-engineered. Key institutions such as the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST), the Korea Creative Content Agenc...
