Seoul will agree with Washington in the first half of this year on reducing a screen quota that obliges Korean cinemas to show domestic movies for a certain amount of time, as a precursor to full-scale free-trade negotiations between the two countries, a government official said Thursday.
With that, one more bar to full negotiations set by the U.S. will be out of the way. The Korean government will soon revise the Movie Promotion Act to cut the screen quota, the official added.
The extent of the cuts remains to be negotiated. Washington wants the screen quota, currently 146 days, brought down to 73 or 20 percent of the year, while Seoul suggests cutting it to 110 days or 30 percent, the official said.
The government plans to come up with other measures to help the domestic film industry, including financial support, but the industry is expected to put up a fight against any change in the quota.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry said the two countries will announce the start date for FTA negotiations early next month. A public hearing will be held here on Feb. 2, and the government will make its own announcement after a ministerial meeting, a ministry official said.
|
English 
US$5 off (order min. US$5)
