CONTENT CREATORS STRUGGLE IN EXPORTS AMID VIRUS

[Anchor Lead]

Korea's cultural contents export has exceeded 10 billion U.S. dollars last year. The growth of the comics and characters industries was quite noticeable as the global trade of webtoons topped one trillion won for the first time. But this year's COVID-19 pandemic has slowed down the nation's contents export, a troubling development for contents creators.

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A promotional video of a hugely popular Korean webtoon. The digital comic has been exported to Indonesia, China and Japan. Korea's webtoons are finding bigger markets beyond Asia, in the United States and Europe, but a great obstacle stands in the way: the COVID-19 pandemic. Just last year, webtoon marketers promoted the works by visiting local importers and showing the contents. But such activities have become all but impossible this year.

[Soundbite] LEE EUN-SEON(SEOUL MEDIA COMICS) : "We need to continue meeting new partners and break into new markets. But it's become very difficult to conduct such activities."

This animation company which made six billion won in annual sales is in panic mode as well.

[Soundbite] JOO A-REUM(STUDIO GALE) : "Our existing overseas sales plan has hit a snag. We are having a hard time finding a solution to this problem."

Last year, before the pandemic, Korea's contents industry recorded more than 10 billion U.S. dollars in exports. The global sales of Korean webtoons exceeded one trillion won for the first time, clearly reflecting the strong growth of the comics and characters industry. But COVID-19 forced creators to find new export routes this year. The government found a solution in tune with this era of no-contanct marketing - video conferencing. A contents creator talks to a local buyer at a one-on-one teleconference to advertise the cultural works instead of travelling for in-person meetings.

[Soundbite] KIM YOUNG-JUN(PRESIDENT, KOREA CREATIVE CONTENT AGENCY) : "We provided opportunities for overseas buyers and Korean content creators to be matched online."

The Korean government plans to support contents export by setting up a system that enables this platform to handle exhibitions, consultations and also draw investors.