Pororo featured at Indian entertainment convention

By Chung Ah-young

Korean animation, Pororo, which recounts the adventures of a little penguin and his friends, was featured along with other cultural content at FICCI Frames, Asia’s largest annual global convention on the entertainment business organized by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

The entry was part of a promotional drive for the Korean entertainment business organized by the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Korea was a partner country at the convention which runs from March 12 to 15 in Mumbai.

“India, with its population of some 1.2 billion people, is rising as a new market for Korean cultural content in film, broadcasting, music and publishing. We are expecting this will promote our content such as animation and films to India,” Park Sun-tae, official of the ministry, said in a statement.

The Korean program consisted of a forum for the Korean-Indian cultural industry, an exports consultation, and a screening session of “Pieta,” directed by Kim Ki-duk, which won the top prize at the Cannes, Venice and Berlin film festivals.

To mark the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties between India and Korea, the convention focuses on culture, tourism, entertainment and business of the two countries.

“We will fully support cultural exchanges between the two countries through this occasion to make them build much closer relations in the entertainment business sector,” Hong Sang-pyo, president of the KOCCA, said.

The forum discusses ways of cooperating to share visual effect technology and knowledge on how to create computer graphics.

On March 12, the Korean animation master class introduced Pororo, which has been exported to 120 countries worldwide over the last 10 years. Kim Il-ho, head of OCON, Pororo’s production company, gave a presentation about the success of the animation’s success with a marketing strategy to his Indian counterparts on how to attract children to the penguin’s stories.

During the Korean Night event, Indian cultural and industrial figures and businessmen were invited to Korean traditional performances and B-boy shows on March 12.