SEOUL -- South Korea could attract $500 million in U.S. investment if the government removed restrictions on American films, the U.S. commerce secretary said on Friday.
South Korea uses a quota system to keep U.S. films out of theaters for 146 days a year."The bottom line is that it is consumers that decide what type of movies they like," William Daley told a news conference.
He also said it was important for South Korea to liberalize further in the fields of pharmaceuticals, intellectual property rights and government procurement.
Daley, who arrived in Seoul on Thursday for a four-day visit, met President Kim Dae-jung and the ministers of commerce, industry and energy, and construction and transport on Friday.
The film quota hit cinema occupancy rates, Daley said.
"This is bad news for your theaters because they cannot fill the seats, and it dampens potential investments in new cinemas also," Daley told the Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Daley said Motion Picture Association of America president Jack Valenti told him that "at least $500 million in identified investments would come to Korea if screen quotas were removed."
Valenti is one of the U.S. businessmen accompanying Daley on a swing through South Korea and China.
South Korean movie stars and directors have staged numerous rallies in recent months to protest against U.S. calls for an end to the quota, arguing the nation's film industry would wither.
Daley said he fully understood South Korea's effort to protect its culture, but added that keeping out competition was an entirely different issue.