Hong Youngwan, CEO of Willbook, Elected 14th President of the Korean Publishers Association

Presenting Key Tasks for the AI Era and the Globalization of K-Publishing

The Korean Publishers Association elected Hong Youngwan, CEO of Willbook, as its 14th president at the 27th regular general meeting held in Seoul on the 10th; he will lead the organization for the next three years.

The Korea Publishers Association elected Hong Yeongwan, CEO of Wilbuk, as its 14th president at the 27th regular general meeting held in Seoul on the 10th to lead the organization for the next three years. Photo by Korea Publishers Association

President Hong ran as the sole candidate and was elected with the approval of about 98% of all voters. Founded in 1998, the Korean Publishers Association is a leading publishing organization in Korea and has been working on developing policies to promote publishing, improving the publishing distribution structure, revitalizing electronic publishing, and promoting reading.

After his inauguration, the new president Hong presented as key tasks: establishing publishing response strategies for the AI era, supporting the globalization of K-publishing, promoting legislation on tax credits for publishing content production costs, and developing a reading literacy index. To this end, the association plans to establish an AI Committee within the Korean Publishers Association, and to push for improving the registration and distribution system for publications utilizing artificial intelligence, as well as preparing measures to protect copyrights and publishing rights.

In addition, in cooperation with related ministries such as the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, it will promote projects to introduce Korean publishing content in major overseas cities and will continue legislative efforts with the goal of introducing a tax credit system for publishing content production costs within this year. The development of a reading-based literacy index to address the decline in literacy among children and adolescents will also be pursued in cooperation with the relevant ministries.

The new president Hong Youngwan graduated from the Graduate School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Chung-Ang University, where he received a master's degree in journalism. He has served as chair of the Sejong Books Steering Committee, chair of the KoPub ERP Development Committee, vice president and policy committee chair of the Korean Publishers Association, and has taught at the Graduate School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Chung-Ang University. He has conducted research as a visiting scholar at UCLA in the United States and has experience working at the publishing house Open Books.

He is currently serving as CEO of Willbook and is active as chair of the Promotion Committee for Tax Credits for Publishing Content Production Costs and as an advisory member to the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism. President Hong will lead the Korean Publishers Association together with the new executive board for the next three years.

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