Minister Park Yang-woo: "Funding Must Be Supplied Quickly and Boldly to the Content Industry"

Meeting with Heads of Policy Financial Institutions in the Content Sector

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Park Yang-woo (right) is listening to the difficulties faced on the ground during a meeting with representatives of policy financial institutions in the content sector.
[Photo by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] Park Yang-woo, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, held a meeting on the 2nd with heads of policy financial institutions such as content investment management companies and guarantee agencies to listen to field opinions and urge active support.

The meeting was organized to review the domestic content production and financing environment, which has been contracted due to the impact of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), and to discuss current issues of policy finance to revitalize investment and loans.

Attendees included heads of public institutions such as the Korea Technology Finance Corporation, Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, Korea Venture Investment Corp., and Korea Creative Content Agency, as well as representatives of investment management companies such as Gaia Venture Partners, Michigan Venture Capital, Union Investment Partners, and Isu Startup Investment.

Minister Park emphasized that, amid the economic downturn caused by COVID-19, which has led to suspension and postponement of content production and a decrease in content investment, timely supply of investment and loan funds is more important than ever to continuously plan, develop, produce, and supply content, the foundation of industrial competitiveness.

He also requested the heads of the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund and Korea Technology Finance Corporation to provide preferential guarantee screening and actively supply guarantees for content companies facing difficulties in financing due to lack of collateral and low credit ratings. To the representatives of investment management companies, he urged the prompt formation of funds being raised this year and bold and swift investment execution.

The participants agreed that the non-face-to-face environment created by COVID-19 and Korea’s leading online content distribution services are factors that will drive innovation in the content industry and create new market opportunities in the future, and they proposed expanding the budget for raising policy funds for investment and loans in the content sector.

Minister Park Yang-woo stated, "To turn this crisis into an opportunity for our content industry to leap forward once again, investment and loan funds must be supplied timely and without gaps to the content production sites," adding, "It is an important task not only to expand the quantitative supply of investment and loans but also to lower the barriers to financing faced by small content companies."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.