By Bae Keun-min
Staff Reporter
People in the local musical industry have formed an association to protect their rights and interests and support the creation of original Korean musicals.
The Musical Theater Association of Korea was launched on Monday by members of 20 musical producing companies and some 1,000 actors and creative staff. It is the first entity of its kind created here except for a nominal musical actors' body that was started in 1999.
"Supply and demand in the industry are expanding. The audiences are estimated to be more than 1 million per year, while some 100 musicals are scheduled to be staged this year", said Yun Ho-jin, chairman of the association during a press conference on Monday.
Although there has been no musical industry that has grown as fast as that of South Korea, more works have to be produced for Korea to become one of the top three musical producing communities in the world, along with Broadway and West End, Yun said.
"Most so-called large-scale masterpieces from abroad have already been staged here, thus we now need to get more interested in original Korean musicals agreeable to our emotions", Yun said. "We aim to establish a foundation and infrastructure in three years to nurture the industry by making recommendations to the government".
Yun, president of ACOM International and producer of the Korean musical "The Last Empress", gave examples of possible measures similar to those taken for the film industry such as creating a public film promotion fund and a screen quota system, which requires local movie theaters to show Korean films at least 146 days a year.
"Korean musicals have a hard time securing a large theater, especially those that premiere, as there are not many big theaters capable of showing musicals. We hope the `stage quota system', will provide us with a stable number of days for performances at such theaters", Yun said. "Musicals-only theaters are necessary as well".
It may be difficult for the industry to be propped up by a quota system in the same way as the film industry has been supported by the legalized screen quota, Yun said, adding, "But it will be possible for us to get help through a kind of agreement with the large theaters".
The association aims to make Korean musicals become part of "hallyu", or the Korean Wave, a term coined to describe the rising popularity of South Korea pop culture around the world, Yun said, adding Western musical producers are showing interest in Korean content and Eastern topics.
"We plan to open an academy in which talent and creative staff will be cultivated in cooperation with renowned foreign schools not only for the local stage but also for the international stage", Yun said. "Many workshops about musicals production know-how will also be held to educate interested young people".
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