South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has unveiled plans to bolster the comics and webtoons industry. The plan includes fostering a supportive ecosystem for the creation and global expansion of South Korean webtoon platforms, with ambitions to mirror the global success of platforms like Netflix. Targeted efforts encompass forming specialized teams and committees, legal reforms and cultivating industry-specific talent. The government aims to enhance the industry’s domestic and international market share by 2027.

The plan outlines substantial financial investment and infrastructural development, including international market penetration support. The newly earmarked budget to support the industry’s “internationally competitive” products will amount to $2.4 million (3.26 billion won) this year. The budget was around $15 million (20 billion won) for five years since 2019, but the government aims to expand it to $74.8 million (100 billion won) by 2027. After the government’s announcement to invest in the industry, related stocks surged for the past few days.