Lessons to be learned from South Korean TV
Governments should nurture talent but not meddle in production, says cultural consul
Stepping inside the Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) in Seoul, you would be surprised how the Korean broadcaster has managed to turn its headquarters into a tourist spot.
On the ground floor, booths are set up to allow visitors virtually learn singing and take pictures with the Kpop stars, or even pretend to be their girlfriends or boyfriends.
Upstairs, visitors could take a further step to have a taste of being anchors in news castings or even acting as the empress in the signature dramas.
Korean dramas have stirred up crazes in Asian countries over the past decade and created huge business opportunities. With the recent success of the military-setting drama Descendants of the Sun, produced by another broadcaster KBS, many would wonder how Hong Kong, which sees a new free station ViuTV goes on air earlier this month, could learn from the Korean experience.
It was important for the government to take a careful position, said the country’s envoy in Hong Kong, by pouring resources in nurturing talents in one hand but refraining from meddling in the production.
“Even though the Korean government support the entertainment industry, they would not intervene directly,” said Yu Byungchae, the country’s consul in Hong Kong on culture. “The content of the dramas and movies depended on the creator’s ideas.”