The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Tuesday it will merge the Gugak Broadcasting Foundation and the Korean Traditional Performing Arts Foundation to build a stronger base for promoting “gugak,” or traditional Korean music, and other traditional arts.
The move is part of a government plan announced Sept. 3 to reform the functions of public institutions, under which bodies with overlapping roles are to be merged or reorganized.
The Gugak Broadcasting Foundation, which operates the radio station Gugak FM, has worked to distribute gugak content and make the genre more accessible to the public through broadcasting.
The Korean Traditional Performing Arts Foundation, established in 2007, has supported the creation and production of traditional performing arts and trained professionals in the field, while working to expand opportunities for the public to enjoy such performances.
The ministry expects the merger to create synergy by linking the broadcaster’s ability to promote content through media with the foundation’s expertise in creating and producing performances.
The ministry will form a task force with the two organizations and work closely with them to draw up a phased implementation plan and revise relevant laws. It did not specify when the merger will take effect or what the new organization will be called.
It also plans to continue supporting the merged organization so that it can play a central role in promoting gugak and traditional arts in line with demand from the field.
Gugak covers a wide range of Korean traditional music, from court and ritual music to folk genres such as pansori, a form of musical storytelling performed by a singer accompanied by a drummer.
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.
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