37 Korean and Russian Publishers Hold First B2B Online Trade Event

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced that, together with the Korea Publication Industry Promotion Agency, it will hold an online publishing video consultation event called "Visiting Book Fair" from the 21st to the 23rd at COEX in Seoul to support domestic publishing companies' entry into the Russian market.

Since 2015, the Ministry and the Promotion Agency have been conducting the "Visiting Book Fair," a publishing copyright export consultation event, to help domestic publishing content enter overseas markets. This time, it will be held in a non-face-to-face format to prevent COVID-19.

Last year, Korea and Russia marked the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations by participating as guest countries at the Seoul International Book Fair and the Moscow International Book Fair, laying the foundation for publishing exchanges. Especially with the "2020-2021 Korea-Russia Mutual Cultural Exchange Year," exchanges have expanded across Korean cultural content, increasing interest in publishing exchanges. This year, for the first time, a business-to-business (B2B) event between publishing companies of both countries will be held to continue this trend.

The Korean Wave, including K-pop, Korean films, dramas, and Korean cuisine, continues to grow steadily in Russia. Recently, alongside the enthusiasm for learning Korean, awareness of Korean books has also increased. In Russia, books related to Korean popular culture content such as dramas like "Dokkaebi" and "Descendants of the Sun," BTS, and the film "Parasite" are gaining attention. Novels like "The Plotters (Kim Eansu)" and "Kim Ji-young, Born 1982 (Cho Nam-joo)" as well as picture books like "Alsatang (Baek Heena)" are receiving positive responses, raising expectations for the future entry of our publishing companies into the Russian market.

About 15 companies, including Russia's leading publisher Eksmo-AST and Hyperion, which has published many Korean books, will participate in this online consultation. Domestically, 22 companies such as Darakwon, Dasan Books, and Kinderland will participate. Additionally, Imprima Korea, a publishing copyright brokerage company, will participate to handle export consultations for 97 domestic consigned books wishing to enter the Russian market.

Domestic participants will upload book introduction materials to the online publishing export market "K-Book" before export consultations to promote their books. Russian publishers will review these materials in advance and then participate in consultations. Furthermore, an online seminar to provide insights into the Russian publishing market status is planned.

Following this Russian export consultation, from June 29 to July 1, an online export consultation will be held between 44 domestic publishers and 27 publishers from 11 countries including China, Indonesia, and Japan.

A Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism official stated, "Since Korea and Russia have continued exchanges in various cultural fields since establishing diplomatic relations, we hope to activate exchanges in the publishing sector as well to become even friendlier neighbors." The official added, "The Ministry and the Publication Promotion Agency plan to explore export channels for the domestic publishing industry, which is currently stagnant, by holding not only online export consultations but also local exchange events in cooperation with overseas Korean Cultural Centers."