Our coverage of the incoming president's policy pledges continues tonight with a look at the arts and culture sector.

Culture and the arts are rarely a focal point of any presidential election, but that doesn't mean they're not a part of this president-elect's plans. In fact, she has quite an ambitious agenda.
To tell us more,.. our cultural correspondent Park Ji-won joins us live from the news center. Hello, Jiwon.

[Reporter : Park Ji-won] Good evening.
Many people expect culture to get a boost under the new president.
The president-elect has been saying that she will provide stronger support for culture and the arts with an increase in government spending and a series of new policies.
Listen to what she said about culture and the arts at a ceremony for the 50th anniversary of the Federation of Korean Cultural Center back in August.




[Interview : Park Geun-hye, President-elect
] "Korean people are very creative, and we are endowed with artistic talent.
I believe Korea can become a cultural powerhouse in the world, if we keep developing our tangible and intangible assets."

The president-elect has an ambitious goal to increase government spending on culture to 2 percent by 2017, which is similar to the OECD average of one.nine percent.
Last year, spending on culture accounted for about one.one-four percent of the budget, so to get to two percent in 5 years,.. spending has to increase by 17 percent a year.

Reporter : jiwonpark@arirang.co.kr