President Lee Jae Myung Calls for Global Partnership to Support Local Cultural Content

President Lee Jae Myung on Monday 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.

Lee made the remarks at a roundtable with the chiefs of leading content companies from South Korea, France and others under the title of "New Perspectives on Local and Global Co-prosperity."

The rare meeting was held 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 sought to explore ways to enhance cooperation to help advance the global cultural industry through mutual sustainable support.

Participants included Yoon Sang-hyun, chief executive officer (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, in turn 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 said, calling for an elevated global stage for cooperation.

The president 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 said South Korea will spare no policy or institutional support in promoting global joint production projects, relevant investment and expanded cooperation in global content distribution.

He also held a separate meeting with a number of South Korean film directors and actors, including Lee Chang-dong, Jeon Do-yeon and Sul Kyung-gu, and discussed efforts to help sustain the recent victories of Korean films and other content, while pledging government support.