*This content was translated by AI.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister Choi Hwi-young) announced on the 23rd that it will announce the "first regular investment of the parent fund in 2026" with Korea Venture Investment (CEO Lee Dae-hee) and create a content policy fund worth a total of 730 billion won. This is the largest-ever target for creation, up about 22% from the previous year, and reflects the government's strong will to advance the era of "K-Culture 300."
The creation of cultural accounts increased by 25% year-on-year (650 billion won, 5th-class funds), and the film account raised the government's investment ratio to support overcoming the crisis in the film industry (81.8 billion won, 3rd-class funds). In addition, in order to expand the participation of private investors, investors' privileges (incentives) such as preferential loss provision (15% → 20%), excess return transfer ratio, and call options (30% → 40%) will be expanded.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will invest a total of 390 billion won in the parent fund cultural account (300 billion won in 2025 → 390 billion won in 2026) to form a fund worth 650 billion won in five fields. First of all, the existing core investment areas such as "Intellectual Property (IP) Fund (creation target of 200 billion won)" and "Export Fund (creation target of 200 billion won)" will be created to focus on securing source intellectual property (IP) for content producers, revitalizing the intellectual property (IP) market, and entering the global market. In particular, the "Intellectual Property (IP) Fund" will strengthen its investment capabilities so that it can continuously supply investment funds to the same company by expanding the size of individual subsidiary funds.
In addition, ▶'Culture and Technology (CT) Fund (creation target of 100 billion won)' will be established to promote the use of technologies developed through new technology development and R&D projects in key areas such as performances, videos and games, ▶'Content New Growth Fund (creation target of 75 billion won) will focus on fostering promising future areas such as games and webtoons with companies in the early stages of their start-ups, and ▶'M&A and Secondary Fund (creation target of 75 billion won)' will be newly established to expand content companies and revitalize the content finance recovery market.
A total of 49 billion won will be invested in the parent fund film account (39.8 billion won in 2025 → 49 billion won in 2026) to form a total of 81.8 billion won in three fields. Considering the crisis in the Korean film industry, this year, the government will adjust the government's investment ratio from 50% to 60%, inducing the formation of a rapid fund and rapid investment execution.
First of all, the government will greatly expand the amount of the main investment fund for Korean films (the creation target of 56.7 billion won) (39.6 billion won in 2025 → 56.7 billion won in 2026, 43.2% increase) to foster small and medium-sized film producers. It will expand the diversity of Korean films and the base of medium and low-budget film production through the "Medium-Budget Korean Film Fund (Creation Goal 13.4 billion won)" and "Animation Fund (Creation Goal 11.7 billion won)," and support the production of animations based on excellent source intellectual property (IP) and Korean animation for theaters.
In order to expand the participation of private investors, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will expand the ratio of privileges (incentives) such as preferential loss provision (15% → 20%) and excess return transfer and call option ratio (30% → 40%). Through this, it will promote private capital inflow into the content industry, ensure that policy funds can be quickly supplied to the market, and strengthen the virtuous cycle of investment in which private investors continue to participate in content policy funds.
Receiving proposals for the "K-Content" fund will be held online from 10 a.m. on February 19 to 2 p.m. on February 26. The final management company will be selected and announced in April, and more details on this can be found on the Korea Venture Investment website.
Lim Sung-hwan, cultural industry policy director at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said, "For the 'K-Culture era of 300 trillion won,' the supply of investment priming water for the content industry is a key factor. The 2026 Content Policy Fund will actively support the stable growth of content companies and the consolidation of the global competitiveness of 'K-Content' by covering new growth fields and recovery markets."
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*This content was translated by AI.
