The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will spend a total of 319 billion won ($295.3 million) in promoting hallyu, or the Korean Wave, next year, the government announced Thursday.

In its briefing for the 2013 draft budget, the amount allocated for promotion of hallyu went up 61.5 billion won, or 23.9 percent, from the previous year and will be distributed among 40 business projects.

“The total amount of budget for next year for the ministry stands at around 3.95 trillion won, the largest ever. With the money we will continue to support artists, the cultural content industry, development of regional tourism resources among others,” the ministry said in a press release.

To expand the influence of Korean culture, greater support will be provided for tourism, sports, and arts alongside pop-culture. The promotion of Hangeul, or the Korean writing system, as well as Korean traditional music will also be sought.

Introducing sports to people of developing countries and the globalization of taekwondo have been newly selected as efforts that could boost Korea’s brand image globally.

By Bae Ji-sook (baejisook@heraldcorp.com)