Culture Ministry Reports 11 Licensing Deals in Europe, China Push

The culture ministry said Friday that Korean content companies signed 11 on-site contracts and business agreements at two licensing trade shows in Europe and China this month, as it works to widen overseas sales channels for Korean intellectual property.

The ministry and the Korea Creative Content Agency ran a joint Korean pavilion at Brand Licensing Europe in London from Oct. 6 to 8 and at China Licensing Expo in Shanghai from Oct. 21 to 23, bringing 10 companies to the British fair and 25 to the Chinese one. Across both events the companies held 860 export consultations.

Potential contract value at the London fair reached about 9.59 million dollars, up 113 percent from a year earlier, on 405 consultations worth about 13.88 million dollars. Korean firms signed three on-site deals there, including licensing brokerage and agency agreements by Roivisual and KB Vision.

At the Shanghai fair, the 25 Korean companies held 455 export consultations, up 43.5 percent from last year, for a total of about 19.75 million dollars and potential contract value of about 7.01 million dollars. On-site contracts and business agreements doubled to eight from four a year earlier.

Among those agreements, Sowp signed a licensing deal with Retail Monster to merchandise Komi Pang stationery in China, while Ocon struck an exclusive master licensing and business operation agreement for its character properties with a local Chinese company.

"Korean content intellectual property combining with various industries to create new added value is an important matter for the continued growth of the content industry," said Choi Seong-hee, the ministry's content industry policy director. "We expect that support for opening overseas sales channels will allow Korean content intellectual property to secure new business opportunities in the global market."

The ministry also ran a Korean pavilion at Licensing Expo 2026 in Las Vegas in May and said it will keep arranging exchanges with overseas buyers.