Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Choi Hwiyoung held a "Webtoon Industry Meeting" on the afternoon of September 19 at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, where he listened to the opinions of field experts from the webtoon industry and explored support measures for the sustainable development of the webtoon sector.
The meeting was attended by creators such as artist Lee Hyunse, as well as representatives from the Korea Cartoonists Association, the Korea Webtoon Association Federation, the Regional Cartoon and Webtoon Association Federation, Naver Webtoon, Kakao Entertainment, Redice Studio, and D&C Media.
Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Choi Hwi-young (left) is greeting artist Lee Hyun-se at the 'Webtoon Industry Meeting' held on the 19th at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul. Photo by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism
The webtoon industry, which had been experiencing rapid growth, has recently shown signs of slowing down. Minister Choi Hwiyoung listened to the challenges and suggestions from those working in the field and discussed the government-level support measures needed to address pressing issues. In particular, the meeting broadly covered topics such as support for domestic companies actively pursuing overseas expansion, countermeasures against illegal distribution, changes in the creative and production environment due to the use of artificial intelligence (AI), and copyright protection issues.
Participants emphasized that, above all, strong crackdowns on illegal distribution and proactive support for overseas market entry are essential for the sustainable growth of the webtoon industry. They stressed that swift blocking of illegal distribution, which has caused damages amounting to 400 billion won, is crucial. To achieve this, they called for the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to be granted authority to block access to illegal sites with overseas servers and for both civil and criminal penalties to be strengthened.
Minister Choi Hwiyoung stated, "Webtoons are the origin of intellectual property (IP) that drives the global spread of 'K-Content' by expanding into various fields such as film, drama, and games. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will actively reflect field opinions in policy and spare no effort to support the establishment of a status befitting the birthplace of webtoons."
Choi Hwiyoung, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, is discussing support measures for the comic and webtoon industry at an on-site meeting held on the 19th at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Seoul in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism
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