Seoul: South Korean President Lee Jae Myung called for the establishment of a partnership linking promising local cultural content creators with global distribution platforms, describing it as an important system he said will benefit the global film industry. According to Yonhap News Agency, Lee made these remarks at a roundtable with the chiefs of leading content companies from South Korea, France, and other nations under the title "New Perspectives on Local and Global Co-prosperity." This rare meeting took place on the sidelines of the Lumiere Summit, co-chaired by Lee and French President Emmanuel Macron, in the French resort town of Saint-Paul-de-Vence. The event aimed to explore ways to enhance cooperation to advance the global cultural industry through mutual sustainable support. Participants included Yoon Sang-hyun, CEO of CJ ENM; Choi Soo-yeon, CEO of Naver; Pierre-Antoine Capton, CEO of French media conglomerate Mediawan; and Isabel Haskey, vice president at Netflix. Lee highlighted that now is the time when the uniqueness of local stories can serve as a source of global competitiveness. South Korean films and drama series, in particular, have gained global influence through unique narratives, contributing to the expansion of the global cultural sector and the diversification of the global cinematic ecosystem, he said. "The synergy created when the uniqueness of the local ecosystem meets the expansiveness of global networks is an important system that could help amplify the results of us all," the South Korean president stated, calling for an elevated global stage for cooperation. He expressed hope that "a virtuous-cycle partnership could be established, in which global capital and distribution channels combine with promising local stories so that the local production ecosystem will gain vigor, leading, in turn, to an increase in the competitiveness of global platforms." Lee assured that South Korea will spare no policy or institutional support in promoting global joint production projects, relevant i nvestment, and expanded cooperation in global content distribution. He also held a separate meeting with several South Korean film directors and actors, including Lee Chang-dong, Jeon Do-yeon, and Sul Kyung-gu, discussing efforts to sustain the recent victories of Korean films and other content while pledging government support. The president also met separately with Charles Rivkin, chairman of the Motion Picture Association (MPA), and executives from MPA member companies, including the Walt Disney Company, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Netflix, as well as a vice chairperson of CJ Group. South Korea's cultural content industry is currently at a turning point, President Lee said, pledging full government support for content production and the development of new sources of stories in the country.
