Ukraine and Korea: New Opportunities for Cooperation in the Media Sphere

On September 20, the 6th international media forum KYIV MEDIA WEEK held a round table devoted to the prospects and new opportunities for cooperation between Ukraine and South Korea in the field of media.

The event gathered at one table representatives of the Korean industry associations – Executive Director of the Content Bureau Nak-Yong Sung (Korea Cable TV Telecommunication Association) and Director of the Department of Planning and Distribution of K-Content Youn Woo Chung (Korea Radio Promotion Association, RAPA); media companies – marketing manager for KBS World Kenny Bae (Korean Broadcasting System), as well as the head of the National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine Yuriy Artemenko and representatives of Ukrainian broadcasters (Olga Zakharova, “Media Group Ukraine”, Valentin Koval, M1 channel) and productions (Olesya Lukyanenko, FILM.UA Group). The special guest of the event was the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea in Ukraine Lee Yang-Goo. 

“At the moment, the cooperation between Ukraine and Korea is very active, and I hope that in the media sphere, it will also be expanded significantly in the future”, said the Ambassador of Korea Lee Yang-Goo. According to him, unfortunately, at the moment the people of Korea do not know much about Ukraine, as well as the people of Ukraine about Korea. But the cooperation between the countries is becoming frequent, including through cultural rapprochement of our countries through cooperation in the media sphere.

As Yuriy Artemenko noted, Korea is a powerful producer of film and television, as well as one of the world’s leaders on the formats market. For example, right now one of Korean scripted drama formats is being adapted by the FILM.UA studio.

FILM.UA producer Olesia Lukianenko spoke about the series in question – “Threads of Fate”, an adaptation of the Korean format “Glass Slippers”, the production of which will last until the end of October. The series will premiere on the Inter TV channel, which is also participating in the production of the project.

It is noteworthy that this is not the only project that is being made in Ukraine based on Korean formats. According to Olga Zakharova, in 2015, the TV channel “Ukraine” premiered the series “Everlasting” – an adaptation of the Korean format “Ice Adonis” (produced by Front Cinema). Prior to this, “Ukraine” has successfully presented several local versions of Korean soap operas – “Save the Boss”, an adaptation of the Korean format “Protect the Boss”, “Queen of the Game” and "Stairway to Heaven", adapted from the eponymous Korean formats. Moreover, all of these projects have performed very well in terms of ratings. Media Group Ukraine has also acquired a number of Korean-made TV series for broadcast on the TV channel “Indigo”.

Representatives of the Korean side assured that they are ready to do everything in their power to promote a mutually beneficial future cooperation with their Ukrainian colleagues – not only selling content abroad, but also buying Ukrainian content. Thus, for example, the public Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) offers foreign partners a deal, according to which, for example, the KBS World channel grants foreign broadcasters a right to broadcast their content free of charge for a certain period of time.

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