Despite the rising status of hallyu, or the wave of Korean pop culture, across the world, relevant support infrastructure at home has failed to catch up, hallyu experts said Thursday, calling for the immediate construction of a K-pop concert arena and hallyu big data center, among other measures.

The Korea Culture and Tourism Institute (KCTI), a think tank affiliated with the culture ministry, said the construction of a hallyu big data center will elevate the cultural hallyu industry to higher ground by helping policymakers and industry executives utilize its vast data.

KCTI also said facility infrastructure for hallyu tourism, such as K-pop concert arenas and pop culture museums, are greatly insufficient.

"All hallyu-related data should be accumulated by a big data center," said Chae Ji-young, a researcher of the KCTI, at Global Korea Convention 2020, an international forum that kicked off in Seoul on Wednesday for a three-day run to share South Korea's achievements in global cooperation and explore its future roles and challenges.

"Hallyu began more than 20 years ago, but the accumulation of related data has been partially attempted or stopped prematurely in most cases," Chae said.

She pointed out that pop culture content should not be neglected any longer, expressing a wish for the construction of a national pop culture museum or archive.

She also regretted that the nation has yet to construct a K-pop concert arena, though K-pop superstar BTS has been performing around the world.

A project to build a 42,000-seat concert arena in Goyang, just north of Seoul, has just recently been announced, with its completion slated for 2023.

An executive from South Korean entertainment giant CJ E&M also said at the convention that a lack of information very often hinders entry into new markets and that systematically organized data on hallyu would be of great help.

During the convention, other experts, including those from the Korea Tourism Organization, exchanged views on ways to promote the combination of hallyu and the nation's historical culture. (Yonhap)