Hoang Huu Luong, Director General of the Press Department under the Ministry of Information and Communications, has recently made a statement on cutting down the broadcasting time of Chinese and South Korean movies.

A scene from the Vietnamese student-themed TV series "Cong Mat Troi" (The Gate to Sun) which has been praised for its meaningful content.

In recent years local viewers have seen widespread airing of movies from China and South Korea. Currently, VTV1 is broadcasting two Chinese movie series, while VTV3 is showing three sets of South Korean films. For its part, VTV6 is also screening a Korean and a Taiwanese series. Even VTV2, the channel which specializes in scientific topics, is also showcasing a Chinese series.

Another channel, VTV9, broadcasts eight hours of foreign movies per day, most of which are Chinese, Taiwanese and Korean.

National channels aren’t the only broadcasters in this situation, as provincial stations and cable channels air an average of 7 - 8 hours of foreign movies per day as well.

There’s only one solution for Vietnamese viewers who do not enjoy these kinds of films, and that is to pick up their remotes and turn to other non-Korean-or-Chinese foreign channels.