Latently, Korean government declared itself a 'book-concentrated nation'(2003. 5. 21.). The pronouncement is synchronized with conducting 'the promotional and developmental master plan of publishing culture' by the Ministry of culture and tourism. At the same time, our scholars, especially in the field of publishing studies, should support helpful ideas and criticism that will aid the realization of this great policy. Accomplishing this great cultural policy is the most important thing. Within a great publishing policy focused on culture, we could achieve not only synergy between a developing producers' book industry and an upgraded consumers' cultural capital, but also greatly affect our society by realizing a powerful culture-concentrated country. Cultural sustenance determines the future of a country. Powerful economic policy excluding culture is the same as building on sand. Therefore, it is crucial whether or not any policy is focused on culture. Moreover, it is not an exaggeration to state that publishing is a kernel of culture. That's why I emphasize that publishing policy has to be planned judiciously more than any other policies. Publishing policy has to be examined, criticized, reformed, and researched continuously before becoming a great policy. For this purpose, I would like to analyze cross-cultural publishing policies internationally. I believe that such comparisons will lead to good ideas and create alternative ideas which can be accommodating to Korean experience. Then I can make suggestions for our governmental policy. Most advanced countries concentrate on book trade. Their policies for publishing are focused on book trade and promotion abroad, because the infrastructure of their publishing industries and publishing culture are well developed. By contrast, developing countries do not have a well-formed infrastructure of publishing culture or industry. The social context differs from one country to another. With these cross-cultural comparisons of publishing policy among many countries, I can see that most policies for publishing are more supportive than regulatory. Also, there is a big difference whether the policies are focusing on culture, or industry. If a government concentrates on its book industry or book trade, it must have a well-composed infrastructure of publishing culture already. If a government concentrates on its publishing culture, it will realize a powerful culture-concentrated nation, even though its country is a developing country now. I assert it has to be the first step to build up the infrastructure of a publishing culture, especially in the case of our country, Korea. The infrastructure of a publishing culture is a necessary precondition and is prior to infrastructure of publishing industry. Our government has to shift its focus from the concern of economics to the concern of culture.
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