Vice Finance and Economy Minister Kwon Tae-shin on Friday blasted the domestic film industry as selfish for resisting a cut in the screen quota.
In a forum Friday, Kwon said domestic movies control as much as 59 percent of the market, adding the Kim Dae-jung administration sought to lower the quota when their share reached 40 percent.
He also said South Korea spends only 100 million dollars on imports of foreign films while its total exports amount to 280 billion dollars.
Discussion of the quota will speed up after the government agreed to launch next month free trade agreement talks with the United States.
Set up in 1966 to protect the domestic industry, the quota requires theaters to show domestic films at least 146 days a year.
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