Bucheon International Comics Festival Selected as 'Gyeonggi-do Representative Festival' for 9 Consecutive Years

130,000 Visitors Last Year, Participation from Over 20 Countries
Secured 100 Million KRW in Gyeonggi-do Support Funds as a Top Festival Selection

The Bucheon International Comics Festival, hosted by the Korea Manhwa Contents Agency (President Shin Jong-chul), has been selected as a representative regional festival of Gyeonggi Province for the ninth consecutive year.

The Bucheon International Comics Festival has been selected as Gyeonggi-do's representative local festival for nine consecutive years.
[Photo by Korea Manhwa Contents Agency]

On the 6th, the Korea Manhwa Contents Agency announced that the Bucheon International Comics Festival was selected as an excellent regional festival in the '2024 Gyeonggi Tourism Festival' judged by the Gyeonggi Province Regional Festival Review Committee.

The excellent regional festivals of Gyeonggi Province are selected through a comprehensive evaluation of documents and presentations on planning and content, festival operation, safety management, and ESG-based festival preparation among a total of 30 festivals in 23 cities and counties within the province.

The reasons behind the Bucheon International Comics Festival being selected as an excellent regional festival include high evaluations of festival programs that facilitate on-site communication between comics professionals and visitors, such as ▲ exhibitions of award-winning works centered on the Bucheon Manhwa Award winners ▲ the ‘Singing BICOF’ creative music festival based on works supported by the agency’s projects ▲ and the operation of the BICOF Comics Room.

The Bucheon International Comics Festival has developed as the largest comics festival in Korea, serving as a communication channel for cartoonists, comics industry professionals, and comics enthusiasts. Since 1998, it has attracted 2.1 million domestic and international visitors, making it Korea’s representative comics festival.

The 26th Bucheon International Comics Festival held in September 2023, themed ‘Comics, Opening the Heart,’ was praised for showcasing the role and aspirations of the largest international comics festival in Korea through exhibitions (Bucheon Manhwa Award winners exhibition), citizen participation events (caricatures, Opening the Heart), dialogues with artists (meetings with award-winning artists), and the global comics city network.

The Bucheon International Comics Festival has been selected as Gyeonggi-do's representative local festival for nine consecutive years.
[Photo by Korea Manhwa Contents Agency]

This year, the Bucheon International Comics Festival plans to offer new content that allows people of all ages, from teenagers to seniors, to directly participate and enjoy, aiming to provide cultural enjoyment for citizens and coexist with the local community.

The Bucheon International Comics Festival has been designated as a ‘2024-2025 Preliminary Cultural Tourism Festival’ by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, recognized for promoting citizen cultural enjoyment, regional tourism and economic revitalization, and the development of the comics industry, as well as efforts for ESG management such as minimizing offline promotional materials and strengthening marketing including expanding overseas participants.

Shin Jong-chul, President of the Korea Manhwa Contents Agency, said, “As the Bucheon International Comics Festival has established itself as a representative international comics festival of Korea, we will make it an international tourism product representing Gyeonggi Province with various contents for the development of the comics industry and the enjoyment of comics by visitors.”