This study investigates the historical process in which ballet in Korea was constructed as fine art. Particularly, it focuses on the ballet’s abrupt and conspicuous growth right after Korea’s liberation from Japan. By delving into materials of the period including newspapers, this study conducts a discourse analysis to inspect sociocultural meanings of ballet as fine art in Korea. In the early stage of its importation, ballet had several disadvantageous factors to be regarded as fine art. It had linked to aristocratic formality, which was condemned by modern artists. Ballet’s exotic toe dancing thrived in popular entertainments such as revue. A turning point came with Korea’s liberation occurring with the end of the Second World War (WWII) in 1945. The fact that ballet suddenly became important when the need for constructing a modern nation was urgent suggests the nation’s key role in the change. While the international society was restructured by the global norm of nationalism, nations functioned as the agent of culture construction. The nation’s leading role in it freed ballet from commercial arena and from past association with aristocracy. Ballet could claim disinterestedness and public welfare, which were at the core of fine art. For constructors of national culture, ballet was a useful means, since it provided a transnational form that subsumed locality. Also, as a form of tradition, ballet afforded a connection to antiquity which was imagined to be shared throughout the nation. Moreover, ballet’s classicism embodied elegance and order, which were desired during the postwar era. In conclusion, the process of national culture construction was a key for ballet in Korea to be constructed as fine art. Ballet as a national emblem represented the nation’s level of civilization in the international society and a public monument for the members of the nation.