On October 25, the Export-Import Bank of Korea (www.koreaexim.go.kr, Chairman Yong Hwan Kim, “ Korea Eximbank”) held a ‘Conference on the Provision of Finance for the Export of Korean Wave Contents’, co-hosted by the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA, President Sang Pyo Hong) and sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST, Minister Kwang Shik Choi) at the Shilla Hotel in Seoul.

The Conference, attended by over 200 people involved in the planning, production, and distribution of Korean Wave contents such as movies, dramas, animated films and games, was an occasion to appraise the global reach of the ever-expanding Korean Wave, to estimate the extent of its contribution to the national economy, and explore avenues to finance its further expansion abroad.

Chairman Yong Hwan Kim of Korea Eximbank said in his welcoming speech, “The global success of Korean Wave contents such as Psy’s horse-riding dance has heightened the level of interest in Korean culture across the world, and made an enormous contribution to the national economy by generating new exports.” He continued, “ As an export credit agency, Korea Eximabnk will work to promote the export of Korean Wave contents by offering customized financing such as loans with popularity-based fees for movies and animated films, and concert financing for international K-POP tours.”

Culture Minster Kwang Shik Choi remarked in his congratulatory address, “ The Korean Wave industry is a high value-added sector with substantial impact in terms of job creation and spillovers into other industries. I hope we can all profit from this opportunity to share ideas for growing and spreading the Korean Wave even further.”

KOCCA President Sang Pyo Hong observed, “ Although our government continues to provide funding for the cultural contents industry, it is still insufficient to meet the needs of the industry,” adding that “ an active supporting role of financial institutions based on a good understanding of of the cultural contents business will be a key driver of sustained growth for the industry, and may also facilitate the evolution of new Korean Wave genres following TV dramas and K-pop.”

Korea Eximbank provided a blueprint for expanding the funding for Korean Wave contents and for intensively fostering the growth of content producers.

First, the agency plans to provide KRW 1 trillion in financing for the cultural contents industry and to nurture ten Korean Wave Leaders.

Korea Eximbank also plans to introduce a new type of loan that bears a low interest rate but charges ‘popularity fees’ to a content producer when revenues from a particular product exceeds the break-even point.

The government-mandated bank will also help cover the revenue risk of K-POP companies with low credit ratings by offering loans to finance K-POP concerts staged abroad.

Korea Eximbank has been providing various forms of credit to the cultural contents industry in order to develop it as a new engine of export.

In October 2010, Korea Eximbank created a team dedicated to knowledge and culture-based contents for the first time among Korean financial institutions. It has provided cultural contents-related financing to the amount of KRW 66.5 billion in 2010 and KRW 142.3 billion in 2011.

According to The Spillover Effects and the Financing of Korean Wave Exports, a report published by Korea Eximbank’s Overseas Economic Research Institute in May 2011, exports of Korean consumer goods increase by USD 412 for every USD 100 increase in the export of cultural contents.