With the second "2026 MyK FESTA," a comprehensive K-Culture festival, underway at Kintex in Ilsan, Gyeonggi Province, and Sonocam Goyang, Kim Young-soo, First Vice Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, appeared elated when met on-site on the 26th.
"MyK FESTA is a stage that shows K-Culture as a whole — encompassing not only K-pop but also beauty, food and fashion lifestyles — to Korean Wave fans around the world, and can also serve as a venue for K-Culture exports," Kim said.
The Culture Ministry previously announced last month that it had expanded the concept of the "K-Culture" market it covers, extending it beyond the existing content and arts industries to additionally encompass inbound tourism (tourism to Korea) and exports of K-food, beauty and fashion. Including these, the government aims to create an era of an annual "400 trillion won K-Culture market" by 2030. As of 2025, the market was worth 274 trillion won. While some have raised objections to treating food, beauty and fashion as K-Culture, this MyK FESTA was where that was demonstrated on the ground, the ministry said.
"Last year (when the first edition was held), it was effectively done by the Culture Ministry alone," Vice Minister Kim Young-soo explained. "But this year, other government ministries including the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries willingly participated, so we have been able to show authentic K-Culture in the true sense." He added, "We are continuing to consider ways to export products alongside producing our films and videos," noting, "Isn't there a case where a scene of eating ramen in a film became a global hit and ramen sales surged?"
He also recounted, at the export consultation session held that day, a case in which a Korean company signed a contract to export bangjja yugi (traditional Korean bronzeware) to China, saying, "Small companies don't have many opportunities to meet overseas buyers or network, and they told us this event was a great help." He explained, "We plan to expand the scale of the event further going forward."
In particular, he deliberately visited a booth set up by the Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency related to "eradicating ticket scalping," and said, "Ticket scalping is a chronic problem in the content industry, and it must be eradicated, not just patched up here and there." He added, "Strong government policy and raised public awareness are needed."
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First Vice Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Kim Young-soo talks with business representatives at the My K-Festa export consultation event held at Sono Calm Goyang in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, on the 26th. Reporter Choi Soo-moon
First Vice Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Kim Young-soo tours a food booth with promotional ambassador and actor Lee Chae-min at My K-Festa held at KINTEX in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, on the 26th. Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism
First Vice Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Kim Young-soo talks with promotional ambassador and actor Lee Chae-min and a police officer promoting the "eradication of ticket scalping" at My K-Festa held at KINTEX in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, on the 26th. Reporter Choi Soo-moon
The KINTEX exhibition hall in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, is packed with crowds at My K-Festa held on the 26th. Reporter Choi Soo-moon - Seoul Economic Daily Culture News from South Korea](https://wimg.sedaily.com/news/cms/2026/06/27/9/news-p.v1.20260627.56e20bacfbfc4106aae29c6fa452e16a_P1.jpg "Vice Minister Kim Touts 'Authentic K-Culture' at MyK FESTA")
This MyK FESTA, which the Culture Ministry held together with the Korea International Cultural Exchange Promotion Agency, featured K-pop concerts (the 26th-27th), pop-up stores for domestic K-Culture companies (the 25th-28th), K-Culture talk shows (the 25th-28th), and export consultation sessions between domestic and foreign companies (the 25th-26th).
The first event, held last year at Olympic Park in Seoul, drew about 46,000 domestic and international Korean Wave fans over four days. This year, more than 50,000 are expected over the four days from the 25th to the 28th. On this day as well, Kintex, used as a K-pop performance venue, was packed with domestic and international spectators who came to see K-pop singers. While 114 foreign companies participated in last year's export consultation session, an estimated 140 or so participated this year.
"Next year, we will expand the scale further so that more people can experience K-Culture in one place," Vice Minister Kim said.
