Kocca launches a dedicated committee to oversee the entire life cycle of South Korea’s original content, a strategic move designed to elevate the nation into a global IP powerhouse. Announced by Kocca President Kim Yoon-zi, the new administrative body will operate as a one-stop support center, unifying producers, investors, distributors, and financial institutions to provide end-to-end project backing rather than fragmented, stage-specific assistance.
Taking inspiration from Japan’s production committee model—where stakeholders collectively absorb financial risks and share proportional profits—the Korean adaptation will be implemented in phases. Kim, a former senior researcher at the Export-Import Bank of Korea who assumed the agency’s presidency in June following a year-long vacancy, emphasized the urgent need to push domestic intellectual property beyond traditional screen adaptations.
‘The committee will start by connecting certain IP to consumer goods as well as to different genres’, Kim stated during a press conference. ‘There are multiple cases of a webtoon being remade into dramas, but I believe IP expansion has to be done more broadly, such as turning it into a theme park, merchandise goods or more. Such collaboration hasn’t been done in Korea, so the Kocca wants to act as an administrator among relevant players’.
In tandem with the committee’s launch, Kocca plans a structural overhaul of its project financing model. The agency intends to pivot away from its current system of rigid, predetermined government budgets—which frequently leave projects submitted early or late in the fiscal year without necessary funding—toward a pooled financing framework supported by multiple industry contributors.
‘That way, we can provide financial help to multiyear projects or those that are submitted later in the year or early in the year’, Kim explained regarding the financial restructure.
This strategic pivot arrives as the South Korean content industry faces shifting economic realities. While K-culture continues to drive massive global interest, with 2025 content revenue reaching 161.5 trillion won (a 2.6 percent year-on-year increase) and exports jumping 5.9 percent to $15 billion, the underlying financial health and margins of the sector require immediate attention.
‘While the absolute figure has seen an increase, the growth rate has slowed due to an increase in production costs hence low profitability’, Kim noted, outlining the agency’s refined, forward-looking mandate. “We aim to build a growth cycle instead of fortifying existing programs.”
