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S. Korea's content industry exports hit record US$14.9 bln in 2025

South Korea's content industry exports reached a record $14.9 billion in 2025, with overseas tourist numbers and foreign credit card spending also hitting new highs. The government aims to expand the 'K-culture' market to 400 trillion won by 2030.

By Tertius News AI Desk 1 outlet · 2 articles Version 1 Coverage May 28 – Jun 2, 2026 Published Aug 15

Lead

South Korea's content industry exports reached a record high of US$14.9 billion in 2025, buoyed by government policies to nurture the 'K-content' industry into a key growth sector, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said on Tuesday. The figure compares with $14.1 billion the previous year.

The number of overseas tourists who visited South Korea also rose to a new high of 18.9 million last year, up from 16.3 million a year earlier. Credit card spending by foreigners in South Korea hit a record high of $14.1 billion, the ministry added, attributing the increase to relaxed entry policies and strengthened marketing efforts.

Coverage Comparison

Both reports from Yonhap News Agency highlighted the record export figures and the government's ambitious targets. The first report, published on May 28, focused on Culture Minister Chae Hwi-young's announcement of a new policy goal to expand the 'K-culture' market to 400 trillion won (US$265 billion) by 2030, up from the previous target of 300 trillion won. The second, published on June 2, centered on the ministry's data release and reiterated the minister's earlier remarks.

The two reports together paint a picture of a government actively promoting the cultural sector as a growth engine. The ministry has redefined the scope of sectors that fall under the category of K-culture to include not only the content industry, comprising arts and culture, but also lifestyle sectors such as food, beauty, and fashion.

Key Claims

South Korea's content industry exports reached a record high of $14.9 billion in 2025, compared with $14.1 billion the previous year.
The number of overseas tourists who visited South Korea rose to 18.9 million in 2025, up from 16.3 million a year earlier.
Credit card spending by foreigners in South Korea hit a record high of $14.1 billion in 2025.
The government aims to build a 400 trillion-won 'K-culture' market by 2030.
Culture Minister Chae Hwi-young said the growing importance of K-culture in the Korean economy will increase in the future as leisure time is expected to increase due to developments in AI technologies.
The ministry has redefined the scope of sectors that fall under the category of K-culture to include lifestyle sectors such as food, beauty, and fashion, in addition to the content industry.
The minister forecast exports of K-culture products to rise to $110 billion by 2030, up from $71.8 billion in 2025.

Perspectives

Government (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism)

The ministry, through Minister Chae Hwi-young, presented K-culture as a core growth engine and announced a revised target of 400 trillion won for the K-culture market by 2030. The minister emphasized the sector's growing importance, linking it to increased leisure time from AI developments, and expressed confidence in achieving the goal through redefined sector boundaries and enhanced marketing efforts.

How this outlet told it

Yonhap News — English as of Jun 2, 2026, 2:31 AM UTC

Framing: Record high content industry exports — Neutral

Facts Included:

South Korea's content industry exports reached a record high of $14.9 billion in 2025
The number of overseas tourists who visited South Korea rose to 18.9 million in 2025
Credit card spending by foreigners in South Korea hit a record high of $14.1 billion in 2025
The government aims to build a 400 trillion-won 'K-culture' market by 2030

Read the source article →

Yonhap News — English as of May 28, 2026, 6:30 AM UTC

Framing: Government's plan to expand K-culture market — Positive

Facts Included:

The government aims to expand South Korea's 'K-culture' market to 400 trillion won by 2030
The minister's comments on the growing importance of K-culture in the Korean economy
The expected increase in leisure time due to developments in AI technologies
The ministry's redefinition of the scope of sectors that fall under the category of K-culture
The forecast of K-culture product exports to rise to $110 billion by 2030

Read the source article →

What was claimed, and who backed it

Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status counts the distinct outlets we found asserting it — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.

Claim	Confidence	Status
ClaimSouth Korea's content industry exports reached a record high of $14.9 billion in 2025. This is compared to $14.1 billion the previous year.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Yonhap News — English as of Jun 2, 2026, 2:31 AM UTC
ClaimThe number of overseas tourists who visited South Korea rose to 18.9 million in 2025, up from 16.3 million a year earlier.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Yonhap News — English as of Jun 2, 2026, 2:31 AM UTC
ClaimCredit card spending by foreigners in South Korea hit a record high of $14.1 billion in 2025.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Yonhap News — English as of Jun 2, 2026, 2:31 AM UTC
ClaimThe government aims to build a 400 trillion-won 'K-culture' market by 2030.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Yonhap News — English as of Jun 2, 2026, 2:31 AM UTC
ClaimCulture Minister Chae Hwi-young said the growing importance of K-culture in the Korean economy will increase in the future as leisure time is expected to increase due to developments in AI technologies.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Yonhap News — English as of May 28, 2026, 6:30 AM UTC
ClaimThe ministry has redefined the scope of sectors that fall under the category of K-culture to include lifestyle sectors such as food, beauty, and fashion, in addition to the content industry.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Yonhap News — English as of May 28, 2026, 6:30 AM UTC
ClaimThe minister forecast exports of K-culture products to rise to $110 billion by 2030, up from $71.8 billion in 2025.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Yonhap News — English as of May 28, 2026, 6:30 AM UTC

Transparency & Audit Trail

1 outlet · 2 articles consulted: Yonhap News — English 7 claims extracted Version 1 Written 2026-08-15