The government announced that it will invest an additional 6.5 billion won in the globalization of domestic comics and webtoons, drawing interest toward the specific direction of project implementation. While it is positive that investment in content has increased despite overall budget cuts among government departments for the next year, there are suggestions that support is needed for improving the profitability of overseas business rather than additional intellectual property (IP) development.
◇ Government invests an additional 6.5 billion won in global expansion of comics and webtoons
According to the Korea Creative Content Agency, which is under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the support amount for the comics and webtoons sector has increased by about 8.4 billion won from 12.6 billion won in 2024 to 21.03 billion won for next year.
In the comics and webtoons sector, two new projects have been established for the globalization of domestic works. The agency announced plans to support the production of global webtoon intellectual property (IP) and to assist in the discovery of localized content next year. While details have not been disclosed, the budget is set at a total of 6.5 billion won, with each project allocated 4.55 billion won and 2 billion won, respectively. An agency official noted, "Specific plans will be announced at the beginning of the year," adding, "We have planned additional support to discover super IPs like 'Solo Leveling,' which gained popularity this year." 'Solo Leveling' is a well-known web novel serialized from 2016 to 2018 and has been adapted into webtoons, games, animations, and films due to its popularity.
Earlier, the Ministry announced on the 11th that the budget for 2025 has been finalized at 7.0672 trillion won. This marks an increase of 112.7 billion won (1.6%) compared to this year's main budget. A total budget of 1.2715 trillion won has been confirmed for the content institutional sector. The ministry explained that it has increased the budget for overseas expansion of comics and webtoons by 6.5 billion won compared to the previous year, investing a total of 13.5 billion won.
◇ Increased investment is a good sign, but... “What about platform maintenance after IP development?”
The webtoon industry acknowledges that while it is a positive development for the government to increase investments, there are concerns about the direction of new projects. It is pointed out that rather than actively pursuing new IP development projects, it is now necessary to improve the profitability of already established works. Recently, the webtoon industry has been scaling back services in markets such as Europe and Southeast Asia. This is not due to a lack of popularity of Korean products or inadequate content, but because illegal distribution has become prevalent, resulting in expenditures such as local marketing costs not yielding profits.
The webtoon industry reports suffering annual losses of billions of won due to illegal webtoon distribution companies. The core revenue source for webtoon companies is 'paid content,' but illegal sites generate profits from gambling advertisements while distributing works for free. Consequently, Kakao Entertainment decided to withdraw from the Indonesian and Taiwanese webtoon markets in October. In Southeast Asia, only the Thai-language service has been maintained. NHN has also recently exited the Taiwanese market, and since 2022, has been scaling back operations in Thailand and Vietnam.
A webtoon industry official said, "Korea's webtoon IP production is close to saturation," adding, "Local governments are also continuing to invest by discovering writers on their own." The official continued, "While the agency needs to announce specific new business plans, there seems to be a need for careful consideration regarding how to distribute and monetize after entering overseas markets."
The government believes that without localization of works, the position of domestic webtoons abroad will weaken. The agency explained in the '2025 Content Export Outlook and Support Strategy' that in the United States and Japan, local platforms are being infiltrated by local authors, making it difficult to maintain the strength of Korean webtoons. Regarding the illegal distribution issue, it stated, "We are conducting campaigns in collaboration with the Copyright Management Commission," noting, "It is true that we are focused on supporting IP due to the nature of our department."