(SEOUL) By Lee Eun-jung = The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said on Monday that its budget for next year’s government budget, which passed the National Assembly, will be 6.9 trillion won ($6.79 trillion), up 3.5 percent ($230.8 billion) from this year.The ministry plans to spend 1.5 trillion won on K-content, 1.3 trillion won each on K-culture and sports, 1.2 trillion won on tourism, and 800 billion won each on countering regional extinction and disadvantaged-friendly policies under the pillars of “enhancing economic vitality led by K-content and tourism” and “ensuring fair access to culture for the people.In the budgeting process, the government cut a total of KRW 244.2 billion in subsidies by reviewing subsidy operations and interest cartel elements, and reflected it in the revitalization of industries such as content and tourism and support for weakness-friendly policies.MOCA will first increase the amount of capital contributed to a fund for the content industry by a total of 360 billion won, bringing the total amount of policy finance to 1.77 trillion won. This is the largest amount ever, more than doubling from this year.Among them, 290 billion won will be invested in a K-content fund to invest in companies and projects such as exporting and securing intellectual property (IP).25 billion won will be invested in a specialized video investment fund for the film industry, and a new content strategy fund worth 45 billion won will be established.The contribution to the Completion Guarantee Account, which allows financial institutions to smoothly finance content production costs, will also be increased to 25 billion won to help domestic companies compete globally.MOCA explained that the amount of policy finance provided next year will reach 1.77 trillion won by expanding the government’s contribution to the fund.To develop content export markets, the ministry will provide one-stop overseas local application registration support services for 200 companies, more than this year (125).The government has allocated 26.7 billion won to set up 10 additional overseas business centers and two overseas content enterprise support centers, and 27.4 billion won to support Hallyu-related industries such as K-fairs.The budget for the promotion of the art sector, which is experiencing steep growth, will increase to 44.1 billion won from 35.6 billion won this year. New funding of 1.3 billion won will be provided for emerging artists not represented by galleries and 4.7 billion won for Korean art showcases. The budget also includes 4.4 billion won to internalize the operation of the Korea Artists’ Welfare Foundation.For the publishing industry, 7.7 billion won will be allocated to developing export markets and human resource development, 3 billion won to foster small and medium-sized publishers, 900 million won for the web novel industry, and 3.9 billion won for copyright protection and infringement prevention activities.In the tourism sector, the budget focuses on attracting overseas tourists and improving the tourism balance deficit.The budget for the “Year of Visiting Korea” will be significantly increased to 17.8 billion won to create an atmosphere for inbound tourism (7.3 billion won) and improve the quality of tourism services (1.6 billion won).The government will allocate 33 billion won to build a complex cultural and artistic space at the Blue House and 25 billion won to develop a temple stay program.We will also expand loan support for tourism businesses to 617 billion won ($449.1 billion), up from 617 billion won this year, and invest 33.1 billion won to discover and foster tourism ventures and global leading companies.It will also build cultural and tourism infrastructure customized for each region. An animation cluster (19.3 billion won) will be built in Suncheon, which has three webtoon-related universities, and a virtual production public studio (12.5 billion won) in Daejeon over two years.27.8 billion won will be allocated for the development of large-scale regional tourism in the southern region, and work will also be carried out to transform local idle spaces such as abandoned mining areas (6.7 billion won) and abandoned industrial facilities (31.7 billion won) into cultural and tourism facilities.The government will provide 49 billion won to integrate fragmented regional cultural and artistic programs into a national creation, production, and distribution project. Support for local representative arts organizations (9 billion won) and local hosting of large-scale performances of national arts organizations (8 billion won) will also be newly promoted.The amount of support for integrated cultural vouchers provided to vulnerable groups will be increased by 20,000 won to 130,000 won per person per year.The sports lecture voucher, which helps low-income people and people with disabilities engage in physical activities, will also increase the number of people supported from 106,000 to 140,000, and the monthly support amount will be increased from 95,000 won to 100,000 won for children and youth and 110,000 won for people with disabilities.Separately, KRW 261.8 billion will be invested in supporting cultural activities for people with disabilities, including the ‘Together Nuri’ program.For the sports industry, which has accumulated deficits during COVID-19, the government has planned to support loans worth 235 billion won, the largest ever.To revitalize daily sports, 30.3 billion won was set aside for the development of sports clubs and 64.7 billion won for the renovation of public sports facilities.With important competitions such as the Gangwon Winter Youth Olympic Games and the Paris Olympics scheduled for next year, professional athletes will also be heavily supported.The budget for fostering outstanding athletes will be expanded to KRW 143.4 billion to operate training camps for the Paris Olympics and Paris Paralympics, and to raise national coaches’ allowances and training food costs.In addition, we will increase welfare for athletes, including performance rewards, and build an athletes’ education center. The government will also provide 46.4 billion won in new support for the preparation of the 2027 World University Games in the Chungcheongbuk-do 토토사이트 region.