Korean entertainment is looking towards China for its future.
On Friday, SM Entertainment founder Lee Soo Man discussed the future of joint content creation between China and South Korea. During the Korea-China Economic Forum, the K-pop content creator described a bright future for cooperation between the two countries.
Lee spoke about seeking cultural exchange as a way of understanding one another, and a way to create content that will "appeal to global viewers."
"Through the joint project between Korea and China, quality content can be produced with the combination of technology and capital," he said, reported the K-Pop Herald.
Lee spoke about China and Korea understanding one another's cultures "without bias," in order to create global-ready entertainment and technology.
Lee's speech at the Korea-China Economic Forum highlighted the company's direction, as well as the importance of cultural products in the Sino-Korean economic relationship.
In 2015, SM Entertainment announced that it would be turning its attention towards China.
SM Entertainment previously made overseas pushes in Japan, with artists like BoA and TVXQ promoting in Japan for several years and spending time living there. In the late 2000's, SM Entertainment debuted several idol groups containing Chinese and Chinese-speaking members, and in 2012, the idol group EXO debuted with a subunit devoted to Mandarin-language music.
SM Entertainment is working with the Chinese company Tencent to produce a new entertainment group via a star search competition show.
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Tamar Herman is a multi-media journalist and the co-founder of KultScene. She is a freelance writer and copy editor, and has written for MTV Iggy, Noisey, and Paste Magazine.
