As of 2025, the market size of Korea’s performing arts has reached 1.7326 trillion KRW, an 18.8% increase from the previous year, marking a historical high. This rapid growth is partly driven by the domestic and international expansion of musicals and pop music fueled by the K-culture wave. In contrast, while theatre accounts for approximately 50,000 performances out of a total of 130,000 performing arts productions (about 38.4%), it only represents about 5% of box office revenue. This indicates that theatre remains in a relatively disadvantaged position regarding industry structure and profitability. Original scripts are the foundation of Korean theatre and have laid a vital cornerstone for K-culture; however, a significant gap remains in terms of revenue and industrial scale.
This lecture will use Korean theatre as an entry point to explain the current state of development and the process of work development, while introducing the K-Story Up platform, which promotes the overseas licensing of Korean scripts.
Speaker:
Shon Shin-hyoung (President of K-Story Up, Korea)
Shon Shin-hyoung
President (2023- present)
Shon Shin-hyoung has been active in the Korean performing arts industry for 25 years as a planner and producer. She has worked with leading Korean performing arts organizations, including Acom, Korea's leading musical production company, the National Theater Company of Korea, the Korean Dance Association, and the Chungbuk Theatre Company. She majored in Shakespeare in the Graduate School at Ewha Womans University and in Theater Management at the Yale School of Drama. She developed the platform "K-Story Up" to globalize Korean plays, and she works with around 20 writers to promote the excellence of Korean plays internationally.
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K-Story Up
K-Story Up is a one-of-a-kind online platform for introducing and delivering Korean plays internationally. Registered members of K-Story Up can experience the most important contemporary plays in Korea right now, as well as purchase copies and performance rights. The catalogue of plays is constantly being updated, and the platform helps you find plays that fit your interests through its search, rating, and review functions. There is also the option to submit requests to search for Korean plays that are not currently listed on the platform. We currently have plans to roll out around one hundred plays by twenty playwrights in the near future. We welcome you to the world of K-story, which forms the foundation of K-Culture, including K-Pop and K-Movie.
Participating Playwrights: Kim Do-young, Lee Mee-kyung, Yun Mi-hyun, Choi-Chieon
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Organizer
