The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced Wednesday that South Korea has become a signatory to the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performance.

Since the treaty deals with performers’ intellectual property rights, the ministry expects it to benefit celebrities leading the Korean Wave, or Hallyu, such as K-pop boy band BTS, show presenter Yoo Jae-suk and actress Jun Ji-hyun.

The Beijing Treaty was adopted June 24, 2012, and will enter into force for the first 30 contracting parties on April 28. For Korea, the 31st country to sign on, the treaty becomes effective July 22.

The treaty grants performers specific economic rights for at least 50 years. The other signatories include China, Chile, Indonesia and Japan.

The ministry emphasized that it signed the treaty in consideration of the growing popularity of Korean pop content such as music, TV and movies, and said it was crucial to protect the rights of performers in various genres.

In 2008 Korea signed the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty, which protects the rights of performers who produce audio content, such as singers and musicians.

By Song Seung-hyun (ssh@heraldcorp.com)