The year 2013 celebrated the 50th anniversary of the official diplomatic relationship between the EU and Korea. The entering into force in 2011 of the bilateral FTA marked a drastic turning point in the bilateral relationship, upgrading it to a ``stra...
The year 2013 celebrated the 50th anniversary of the official diplomatic relationship between the EU and Korea. The entering into force in 2011 of the bilateral FTA marked a drastic turning point in the bilateral relationship, upgrading it to a ``strategic partnership`` status. As the former studies were mainly concentrated on economic impacts of the FTA, this paper was designed to investigate a new aspect in the Korea-EU bilateral relations. In fact, this paper examined the current state and future prospects of cultural cooperation between Korea and the EU in light of the recent implementation of both the Korea-EU FTA agreement and its ``Protocol on Cultural Cooperation``. The paper argued that the Korea-EU FTA is significant from cultural aspects since the Agreement included Protocol on Cultural Cooperation as an integral part. It is one of main conclusions of this paper that the Protocol is expected to foster cultural exchanges and cooperation between the two sides by encouraging co-production of audio-visual products. Also, the institutional arrangements for increasing the exchange of cultural professionals, as envisaged in the Protocol would become an important instrument to strengthen cultural exchanges between the two parties. The paper further concludes that it is highly likely that animation sector will benefit most from this new agreement.