South Korea and China are taking the initial steps toward launching a joint entertainment fund of around $200 million (200 billion won), Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced on Thursday.
The joint fund aims to finance the production of local film, broadcasting and music projects. The two countries have pledged $40 million each, with the remaining $12 million due to come from private sources. Chinese mogul Jack Ma, whose e-commerce giant Alibaba recently went public, has reportedly shown interest in the fund, according to Korea's "Yonhap News".
Plans for the joint fund were initially made during the Korea-China summit in July, when a landmark co-production pact was signed. The agreement allows co-produced films to be treated as local films in both countries, allowing such movies to avoid local screen quota regulations.
"Meetings about the joint fund will begin next month, to plan out the details and launch it," said a spokesperson for the Korean culture ministry.
In addition to allotting $40 million to the joint fund with China, the Korean culture ministry will put $60 million (60 billion won) towards newly emerging arts/entertainment projects. It will also draw a separate budget for supporting TV drama/broadcasting content.