SEOUL, Park Jin-young, the founder and chief producer of JYP Entertainment, has been appointed to a ministerial-level role on South Korea’s newly launched presidential committee aimed at promoting K-pop and cultural exchange, the presidential office announced on Tuesday (Sept 9).
Park, a renowned singer-songwriter and executive, will serve as co-chair of the Commission on Pop-Culture Exchange alongside Culture Minister Chae Hwi-young.
According to presidential chief of staff Kang Hoon-sik, the committee will focus on expanding the global reach of South Korean culture while also introducing more international cultural content into Korea. He highlighted Park’s pivotal role in pushing K-pop into overseas markets, noting, “Park has been at the forefront of taking K-pop to the United States and is now seen as a symbolic figure in the globalisation of the industry.”
In a social media post, the 53-year-old Park expressed his commitment to advocating for stronger government support for K-pop and creating more opportunities for artists.
President Lee Jae Myung also announced several other key appointments on Sept 9. These include former government legislation minister Lee Seog-yeon to lead the Presidential Committee of National Cohesion, and former lawmaker and architect Kim Jin-ai to head the Presidential Commission on Architecture Policy. Attorney We Chul-whan was named chief of the National Election Commission.
At the vice-ministerial level, Lee appointed former lawmaker Kim Kyung-hyup as head of the Overseas Korean Agency, while veteran civil servants Jung Goo-chang and Cho Sung-joo were named vice-minister of gender equality and family and senior presidential secretary for personnel affairs, respectively.
