The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) is launching a large-scale talent development project to address changes in the content industry brought by the spread of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. In collaboration with the Korea Creative Content Agency, the initiative aims to ensure sustainable growth for K-content. On March 12, 2024, MCST announced plans to invest KRW 43 billion to systematically foster 3,400 talents with expertise in technology convergence, specialization, and global expansion. Prospective trainees can check the annual schedule and apply according to their career and future plans.
This year, the ‘AI-Specialized Content Academy’ is being introduced as a key new project to respond to changes in content creation environments, such as generative AI. With a budget of KRW 19.2 billion, the academy will train 900 preliminary and unskilled personnel, 100 skilled professionals, and 100 aspiring game industry workers, totaling 1,200 AI-utilizing specialists. The preliminary/unskilled course combines AI tool theory, practical training, and expert guidance, while the skilled professional course focuses on real-world content production. Game industry trainees will be recruited twice, in February and June, through the Game Talent Institute.
MCST is also strengthening field-oriented education, such as the Creative Talent Companion Project and specialized talent development by sector. The Creative Talent Companion Project, with a budget of KRW 9.7 billion, supports close mentorship with top experts, including director Jang Jae-hyun of ‘Exhuma’, writer Moon Ji-won of ‘Extraordinary Attorney Woo’, and composer Cho Byung-hyun of ‘Reborn Rich’. In April, 300 aspiring creators aged 19 to 34 will be selected. The OTT broadcasting/video sector will provide specialized training for 1,000 professionals in partnership with Netflix, while webtoon, animation, popular music, and pop culture sectors will offer practical, job-focused education.
To strengthen K-content’s overseas market entry, a content export specialist training program will select 100 new and current professionals from April to May, providing education in overseas market research and export marketing theory and practice. Detailed recruitment guidelines and schedules for each project can be found on the KOCCA (www.kocca.kr) and EduKOCCA (edu.kocca.kr) websites. Lim Sung-han, Director of Cultural Industry Policy at MCST, emphasized that providing growth ladders for next-generation talents is key to a sustainable future for the cultural content industry, and pledged continued systematic support for convergence talents to become creative leaders on the global stage.