Home > Opinion > Editorials

Korea needs a better IP industry strategy

Published: 19 Aug. 2025, 00:02 Updated: 19 Aug. 2025, 15:28

'Huntrix", a K-pop girl group in "K-Pop Demon Hunters" [NETFLIX]

Netflix’s animated feature "K-Pop Demon Hunters" (hereafter KDH) is a textbook example of the powerful synergy created when the streaming industry and the music industry intersect. Viewers who first encounter the songs through the film seek them out later on streaming platforms, while listeners who discover the tracks beforehand are drawn to the movie itself. The frenzy surrounding KDH owes much to the global pull of K-culture, but it also reflects the changing patterns of cultural consumption in the digital age.

Regrettably, Korea is not the chief beneficiary of this vast derivative value. The broadcast revenue flows to Netflix, while the profits from the flood of cover videos of its songs and dances produced by fans worldwide are captured by YouTube and TikTok. The absence of a Korean global platform is painfully evident. Forbes has reported that Netflix plans to turn KDH into a franchise rivaling Disney’s blockbuster "Frozen." Although the producer is Sony Pictures, Netflix secured the intellectual property (IP) rights in return for financing the production, meaning most of the future revenue will fall to Netflix. "Frozen" is said to have generated close to 20 trillion won ($14.4 billion) in combined earnings from box office sales, merchandise such as dolls and costumes, and stage musicals.

This has led to the lament that “K-culture performs, but U.S. companies reap the profits.” To be sure, the KDH boom has produced some positive outcomes for Korea: badges of the National Museum of Korea’s magpie-and-tiger motif sold out, and even middle-aged Western men who had been indifferent to K-pop began to take an interest. Still, Korea must avoid two extremes — being trapped in a victim mentality, or lapsing into self-satisfied “national pride” intoxication. The “power of culture” that late independence leader Kim Gu dreamed of cannot be sustained by pride alone. What sustains culture is an industrial framework — especially strong IP rights and global platforms.

A recent report by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry underscores this reality. According to the study, Korea does not have a single company on the list of the world’s top 50 intellectual property holders. The United States, home to characters like Mickey Mouse and Batman, had 32; Japan, with Pokémon and Hello Kitty, had seven. Korea had none. The reasons cited include a shortage of original IP, a lack of strategies for multi-faceted use, and limited investment capacity. The chamber proposed creating an “IP sovereignty fund,” in which the government would provide financing for projects where domestic producers retain an equity stake, thereby sharing IP rights. This would prevent the current structure in which platforms like Netflix monopolize both the IP and derivative profits in exchange for fully funding production. It is a proposal worth serious consideration.

Ultimately, for the Korean Wave to translate into global-scale IP power, Korea needs a long-term government strategy and policies that maximize private creativity. Short-sighted subsidies or regulations will do little. The KDH boom should serve as a sobering reminder for both the government and the private sector to take a hard look at Korea’s IP industry strategy.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.