'The Simpsons' Director Ralph Sosa Draws Attention with Visit to Imsil County, Jeonbuk

Visits Cheese Theme Park and More
Discusses Development of the Tourism Industry

Ralph Sosa, a director well known for his work on the globally long-running animation "The Simpsons," visited Imsil County Office and Cheese Theme Park on the 12th.

Ralph Sosa, a director well known for his work on the globally long-running animation "The Simpsons," visited Imsil County Office and Cheese Theme Park on the 12th. Photo by Imsil County Office

According to the county on the 15th, Ralph Sosa met with County Governor Sim Min at 10 a.m. that day, where he discussed the potential for global content collaboration utilizing ImsilN Cheese and local cultural resources, as well as the development of the tourism industry.

Director Ralph Sosa is a world-renowned animation director who has worked at major American studios for over 30 years. He is credited with shaping American pop culture through his direction of "The Simpsons" and other works. He is also an internationally recognized content expert, having been part of the production team for "The Simpsons," which was selected by Time magazine in 1999 as the "Best TV Series of the 20th Century."

This visit to Imsil was organized to explore an international joint content production and collaboration model that can promote the story of ImsilN Cheese and the region's cultural and tourism assets to the global market, in connection with the Cheese Island project at Imsil Cheese Theme Park currently being promoted by Imsil County.

During his meeting with County Governor Sim Min, Ralph Sosa exchanged a wide range of ideas on various forms of collaboration, including the creation of a story-based theme space centered on Cheese Island, production of animation and video content based on Imsil's cultural resources, development of character merchandise, and joint planning of overseas promotional content.

After visiting Imsil Cheese Theme Park and the Imsil Cheese History and Culture Center, he was deeply impressed by the history of the Imsil cheese industry, which began in 1964 through the dedication of the late Father Didier t'Serstevens from Belgium.

While viewing videos and exhibits that tell the story of Father t'Serstevens and the efforts of local residents, he remarked that "this is a story with tremendous potential for content creation."

In particular, Ralph Sosa has long expressed a deep affection for traditional Korean culture and characters. He showed great interest in Korea's unique dokkaebi (goblin) characters, traditional folklore, and folk color palettes, and has visited Korea frequently.

The county plans to take this opportunity of Ralph Sosa's visit to gradually pursue strategic collaborations to expand the ImsilN Cheese brand globally, while building a content-based tourism infrastructure centered on the Cheese Island development project.

Ralph Sosa said, "Imsil is a place with beautiful natural scenery and a rich cultural heritage, and I was greatly inspired by the story of Father t'Serstevens. If Imsil's unique cultural assets are developed into international content, not only can they be promoted on social media, but there is also great potential for animation projects and the creation of IP-based characters."

County Governor Sim Min stated, "I sincerely welcome the visit of world-renowned animation maestro Ralph Sosa to Imsil County. I hope that this meeting will serve as a catalyst for developing various collaborative initiatives that will help ImsilN Cheese and Imsil's cultural and tourism resources grow into global content."