The Walt Disney Company Korea is setting up a "K-Culture Fund," a working title, with Kakao Entertainment. The fund aims to combine Korean intellectual property such as K-pop and Korean content with Disney's global IP to develop them into global projects.
Kim Hyun-jin, head of the consumer products division at The Walt Disney Company Korea, said at a press conference at Yosae Dosan in Seoul's Gangnam district on the 16th that the company is creating the K-Culture Fund through a strategic partnership with Kakao Entertainment. "Through this, we plan to pursue about 10 K-wave projects over the medium to long term," Kim said. Disney Korea and Kakao Entertainment are discussing the size of the investment, its targets and the launch date. The fund will focus on expanding the fictional universes of K-pop artists and presenting them to the global market.
At the briefing, Disney Korea unveiled a vision to make Korea a strategic base for its global IP business and to expand cooperation with Korean IP companies. The partnership with Kakao Entertainment is part of that plan. "We will widen the opportunities for ideas and success stories that begin in Korea to reach fans around the world through Disney's global network," Kim said. "Korea is a strategic market that we view as globally important because K-pop, Korean content, Korean fashion and Korean food are all optimized for cross-border business."
Under the strategy, Disney Korea is also pursuing new projects with SM Entertainment, HYBE and Starship Entertainment in addition to Kakao Entertainment. "With SM Entertainment, we are entering a strategic collaboration involving Marvel, one of Disney's flagship brands," Kim said. "Marvel's stories will meet the fictional universes of SM's various artists to deliver an experience on an entirely different level."
Disney's consumer products division oversees the planning and development of merchandise using Disney IP, running a retail business worth about $63 billion, or roughly 87 trillion won, with partners in some 180 countries. Disney Korea set up a business-to-consumer retail team in Korea last year and has been widening its consumer touchpoints, including pop-up stores at Hyundai Department Store. "We will combine Korea's soft power, where fandom culture emerges quickly and spreads worldwide, with Disney's storytelling to produce new results from our collaborations," Kim said.
