President Park Geun-hye has emphasized again the importance of well-made cultural content in contributing to communication between the generations and in promoting social integrity.

On January 28, the first “Cultural Wednesday” of 2015, President Park watched the movie “Ode to My Father” with film industry representatives, with people who worked in Germany as miners and nurses in the 1960s and 1970s and with members of families separated by the division of Korea.

“I brought a handkerchief because I heard the movie has a lot of touching scenes. The movie proved that good cultural content can greatly contribute to helping social unity,” said President Park in a meeting with the director Yoon Je-kyoon, with the actors, including the two main performers in the film, Hwang Jung-min and Kim Yunjin, and with representatives of the film industry.

“This film portrays very well the real lives of our parents, their real experiences and the sacrifices they made, backed by historical fact. It is also fun to watch and to see people touched by the movie, which greatly helps youth understand the sacrifices of earlier generations and helps communication between them,” said the president, while praising the movie, which has been a box office hit.




“The way to keep the culture industry growing is to create an environment where talented and creative individuals can work comfortably and in a rewarding manner,” said President Park. She also mentioned that the standard employment system and the four basic insurances applied to all workers during the production of “Ode to My Father.” The president hoped that such practices could spread to all movie-producing environments.

“Excellent cultural content can even lift the pride of the people and boost the vitality of life. No book will ever make people understand as much as this movie did,” said the president. While listening to the main actress Kim Yunjin talk about drama production in the U.S., the president said, “The shortcut to developing the culture industry is to create a good environment for workers so that they can work better.”

“The box office success of 'Ode to My Father' raised public interest in people who worked in Germany as miners and nurses in the 1960s and 1970s. This has also led to an increased number of visitors to the German Village in Namhae, Gyeongsangnam-do (South Gyeongsang Province). This is a good example where a combination of the arts and tourism created added value, which also revitalized the local economy there,” said the president.

By Yoon Sojung
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos: Cheong Wa Dae
arete@korea.kr