The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) has been allocated 584.3 billion won, or 2.2% of the government's total 26.2 trillion won supplementary budget for 2026, though the complete exclusion of sports and national heritage funding has drawn criticism.
The first supplementary budget bill for 2026 covering MCST's culture, sports, and tourism sectors was tabled at the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee (chaired by Rep. Kim Gyo-heung of the Democratic Party of Korea) on Wednesday. The total came to 584.3 billion won.
Tourism accounted for the largest share at 345.4 billion won. This included 280 billion won in loans for tourism businesses, 30.6 billion won for marketing to attract foreign tourists with a focus on the Chinese-speaking market, 11.2 billion won in accommodation discount vouchers, and 6.2 billion won for worker vacation subsidies.
The content sector received 140.9 billion won and the arts sector 98 billion won. In the content sector, allocations included 50 billion won for K-content fund investments, 4.8 billion won for "Culture Day," 36.1 billion won to boost public movie attendance, and 38.5 billion won for film production support. In the arts sector, allocations included 50 billion won in financial support (loans) for the arts industry, 32.8 billion won for artists' livelihood stabilization funds (loans and operating expenses), and 5.1 billion won for performing arts ticket subsidies.
Culture Minister Choi Hwi-young said the supplementary budget "focused on minimizing damage to the tourism and content industries amid growing economic uncertainty due to the recent Middle East conflict, while also supporting basic arts, youth employment, and overall public livelihood stabilization."
MCST's share of the total supplementary budget reached 2.23%. This represents more than a double increase compared with the ministry's share of just 1.08% in the 2026 total budget, where the overall culture budget accounts for only 1.32%. President Lee Jae-myung and Prime Minister Kim Min-seok had previously pledged to achieve a "culture budget 2%" target relative to total government spending during the current administration, a goal that has now been realized at least in the supplementary budget. The "culture budget" refers to the combined government spending on culture, sports, tourism, and national heritage, centered on MCST and the Korea Heritage Service, with partial inclusion of agencies such as the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT).
Prime Minister Kim said during "K-Online Policy Q&A: K-Culture," an internet broadcast on March 31, while in conversation with Yoo Hong-jun, director of the National Museum of Korea, and Kim Young-su, first vice minister of MCST, "Under our government, we should aim to double the culture budget from its current level. I believe we need to reach 2%."
However, the complete exclusion of the sports sector from MCST's supplementary budget sparked debate at the committee session. The Korea Heritage Service budget, another pillar of the culture budget, also received no allocation in this supplementary budget. Attention is now on whether additional funding will be secured during the committee's review process.