A Fade Out - Not 'The End'

Missing all Cannes Festival selections for the first time in 26 years came as a brutal yet necessary wake up call for Korean cinema.

Everybody knew the figures were bad, but there was always an opportunity to cheer up on the creative side. This year, no one passed the cut for the Croisette.

And business-wise, the maths don't look good:

• Ticket sales nosedived by 46% between 2019 and 2024, from 226.9 to 123.1M. And Korea was not hit as hard by COVID as France, who shrunk by only 16% (from 213.3 to 181M).
• Premium experiences (4D, norebang-style individual projection rooms, k-pop corn, or high tech retailtainment) don't make up for the decline in the average ticket price (8% last year according to KOFIC). More coupons, more promotions for more budget-conscious viewers.

Don't blame only the usual streaming suspects; the local context clearly didn't help: 

• Koreans have been busy worrying about democracy and demonstrating en masse on the streets 
  
• Koreans don't go and stay out as often and as late as they used to. Even before COVID, the nation's nightlife declined sharply due to abrupt labor reforms - now most restaurants close early, and formerly buzzing areas have become eerily quiet

The near future doesn't look bright because there will be a shortage of new films in 2026: the well of COVID-delayed movies is drying up, and risk-adverse Korean majors have divided by two their number of yearly releases.

Of course, Korea wouldn't be this vulnerable if it weren't that blockbuster-dependent. France's resilience is in great part linked to the diversity of movies and documentaries screened nationwide, and I have already stressed the importance of indie cinema to save Korean cinema as a whole for decades (i.e. 'Saving Korean cinema... and even Chaebolplex').

One of Korean cinema's fundamental problems is that, in this country, most movie theaters are not about culture but about real estate. And like with residential or office real estate, diversity and obvious demographics trends are not really taken into account. Worse, when a movie theater has a unique cultural value, authorities destroy it to make room for a parking lot - yes, our dear Wonju landmark ('Wonju's Academy Theater') was eventually obliterated last October.

Yet. The widening gap between these huge pipes and thinning streams might be the kick in the butt multiplex operators needed. If they don't diversify their offer now, they never will, and they will never survive. They can't wait for Korean majors to de-hibernate. They must leverage their assets to act as cultural leaders, like MK2 in France, with weekly events like encounters with players in the film industry or stimulating lectures on science or culture.

We also see new venues searching for the essence of cinema. From CHO Minsuk's new Seoul Cinematheque, which fosters a dialog with film archives and even provides an outdoor venue to Laika Cinema in Yeonhui-dong, a young, well curated, intimate and cosy boutique theater giving meaningful movies the place they deserve.

And by the way, Korean majors must also seize this kick in the butt as an opportunity to improve their failing business model and to leave their comfort zone without risking much: instead of doing business as usual and betting everything on elusive blockbusters, they should devote a greater share of their budgets to small films, to source the new blood Hallyuwood needs. If you invest in startups, you know most of the time you won't hit the jackpot, but taking more small risks allows you to give disruptors and game changers a chance, to nurture the whole ecosystem. And spotting new talents will become even more vital for Korean majors now that technology enables every creator to make a film. Look how an unknown Latvian creator could claim an Academy Award (Gints Zilbalodis with his lovely 'Flow').

Beyond the movie industry, Korea Inc as a whole can play a role by financing original creations. Hyundai had the brilliant idea to sponsor 'Night Fishing', a short film by MOON Byounggon's 'Night Fishing' starring SON Suk-ku and of course one of its electric cars. The short was screened in 15 CGV theaters for a symbolic price of KRW 1,000. That's not just smart advertising and PPL, that's true cultural leadership contributing to the pedagogy of an audience formatted for blockbusters.

All stakeholders can make a positive difference, even local and national authorities. For instance by subsidizing or offering incentives only to venues devoting a significant share of independent films.

Remember that movie theaters are all about projection. Not only about projecting stuff to consumers, but about projecting people into different contexts and mindsets. We're not entering a dark bubble, we're disconnected from our phones and ambient noise, with unknown people focusing at the same time on the same brain stimulators. And when these stimulators are not the usual formatted algorhythms but creative works of art, each member of the audience sees, remembers, imagines something different, almost like we do by reading a good book. 

Don't worry, this is not The End: after this welcome kick in the ass, Korean cinema will kick ass again. 

Seoul Village 2025
Welcome to our Korean Errlines! Follow Seoul Village on Facebook, Bluesky, Threads, and X/Twitter, follow me on Instagram.
Download 'Seoul VillageS', the free ebook.

Seoul Smart Life Week - What happens in Vegas stays in Seoul?

So taking more space at CES was not enough: Seoul wants to be a match with the World's leading consumer electronics show and launch 'Seoul Smart Life Week' later this year (Oct 7-9 in COEX).

Mayor OH Se-hoon announced the event at the 640 sqm Seoul Pavilion in Tech West Eureka Park, where 81 companies exhibited their solutions and gizmos (very strong biotech and A.I. verticals behind  Seoul Biohub and Seoul AI Hub). 18 of them claimed a CES Award, but the prize OH and Seoul Business Agency are after means even bigger bucks.

Well the first edition 'only' aims at 100 cities and 200,000 visitors, but it takes time to install a big show in a crowded calendar, and COEX can't host a Barnum the size of CES.

KINTEX would gladly oblige, but Korea's biggest exhibition venue is in Ilsan, Goyang, Gyeonggi-do, with limited hospitality capacity nearby. Seoul wants to become a global or at least an Asian leader, to put for good Tokyo, Hong Kong (and its half-yearly Electronics Fair), or Singapore (COMEX- ITSHOW-The Tech Show-Consumer Electronics Exhibition) behind. 

Seoul plans to change venues after the Jamsil Sports Complex is fully transformed into the Jamsil Sports MICE Complex, with a business hub connecting the COEX, SETEC, Hyundai Motors Global Business Center, Dominique Perrault's new Yeongdong-daero, and of course the Han River in this very vegassy vision mentioned in my recent focus (see 'Seoul waterways and urbanism - the full story'):

Seoul already hosts many tech-related events, but no top-of-mind brand emerges. At least, if it may not seem very original, 'smart life' sounds definitely more human-oriented than the old-tech-y 'electronics' or 'IT'. Unlike CES with the CTA, this new SSLW will not be led by an industry but by a local authority, with city pavilions rather than national spaces. To compete with Vegas, Seoul will not only need new hardware and software, but also the power hitters Korea Inc. sends to the national pavilion. And ultimately, Samsung LG, and Co. will have to be convinced to release buzzworthy novelties 3 months earlier than usual.

Seoul Village 2024
Welcome to our Korean Errlines! Follow Seoul Village on Facebook and Twitter, follow me on Instagram.
Download 'Seoul VillageS', the free ebook (12 short stories now adapted into movies).

Yeongdong-daero Underground City, Korea (YUCK?)

Last March, KEPCO surpassed Hyundai Motor in market capitalization (KRW 37 tn vs 34). Ironically, since Hyundai's financial trouble have something to do with their purchase from KEPCO, in September 2014, of prime land along Yeongdong-daero, for a whopping USD 10 bn.

As you know (e.g. Yeongdongwon focus in last year's "Diagonal crossings, High Lines, and Business Verticals (how pedestrians and businesses remodel Seoul... and vice-versa)"), that site will host the group's future HQ - Hyundai Motor Global Business Center - at the core of a redesigned COEX-Jamsil business district that will stretch over both sides of Tancheon stream (Samseong-dong and Daechi-dong in Gangnam-gu, Jamsil-dong in Songpa-gu), and grow what is already a significant transportation hub into a gigantic one.

Yesterday, Seoul Metropolitan Government released more details about that part of the puzzle, an 'underground city' to be delivered by 2021:

• A big whale: 160,000 square meters under Yeongdong-daero (6 underground floors, 630 m long, 70 wide, 51 deep). Cost: KRW 1.169 tn
• A multimodal hub: subway (Samseong Station on Line 2, Bongeunsa on Line 9), bus (including the City Air Terminal), express railways (GTX-A Samseong-Dongtan, GTX-C Uijeongbu-Samseong-Gunpo, KTX Northeast extension), LRT (Wirye-Sinsa Line - see "Seoul LRT Projects Update (Part 2/2)"). Expected gains in commuting times to Dongtan and City Hall: from respectively 41 and 29 mn by car, to 20 and 5 mn by rail

Views presented last year

The hub will also include various culture and service facilities, and a shopping area complementing the COEX Mall. Pedestrians shall have a better time navigating a space until now devoted to Car Almighty.

With its countless traffic lanes, Yeondong-daero looks like a pre-Gwanghwamun-plaza Sejongno on steroids, and this project seems to consider a similar, tree-less, tip-of-the-iceberg central walkway. But it's not as if masses will roam the surface like downtown: distances are even greater, and most of the fun will remain indoor. As nice as Bongeunsa is, it doesn't rival with Jongno landmarks and Bugaksan.

Still, this transport hub certainly looks less nightmarish than Banpo's Express Bus Terminal, because the Yeongdong-daero / Teheran-ro intersection is far less messy, and because you don't have 'apateu' blocks the scale of say a Banpo Xi. One can also hope that the user experience will be better thought through, more seamless.

How much this will cannibalize business from COEX Mall or Lotte World remains to be seen. But it's already adding trouble to the old business center of Gangnamistan: vacancy rates are expected to keep growing in Gangnam Business District (around Gangnamdae-ro and Teheran-ro at Gangnam Station), even if Hyundai Motor is moving in the time to build its new extravaganza.
Common sense, demographic and economic trends tend to make us think that a success story here would mean a failure somewhere else. And this zero-sum game leaves us every year with more infrastructures to fill.

Let's hope that this 'underground city', which unlike many pharaonic projects does have a purpose, won't be the vast magma chamber of a supervolcano bubble, but at least a successful transport hub.


Seoul Village 2016
Welcome to our Korean Errlines! Follow Seoul Village on Facebook and Twitter

Add this page to your favorites
.

South Korea's Super PAC

In the US, politics are a matter of PACs, the Political Action Commitees that make or destroy candidates. But in Korea, the PAC that matters these days is the PARK Won-soon / AHN Cheol-soo / CHUNG Mong-joon trio.

Never mind PARK Geun-hye: Korean presidents tend to turn into lame ducks as soon as they're elected*, because of the one term limit designed to prevent the return of dictatorship.

Before getting back to that Korean PAC, let me finish my point on this safeguard of democracy that (as I last mentioned here in a stateofthedisunionish focus ahead of the 2012 presidential race, when the constitution turned 25 - see "25 years later") contributes to South Korea's very unique imbalance of power.

Again, in this country, the executive branch is almost powerless, the legislative branch utterly divided, the judiciary branch and the media not really independent, and democracy has no control whatsoever over the two forces that actually make and unmake kings: chaebol and netizens.

Some Saenuri lawmakers have been lobbying in favor of a constitutional change allowing a second mandate, but potential successors from all sides are probably not very happy with the timing, particularly since the first beneficiary would ironically be the daughter of PARK Chung-hee, the man who got rid of the two term limit to roll out his own Yushin Constitution.

Personally, I think that South Korea should return to a 2-term system, but also that, ideally and to prevent any misunderstanding, this major constitutional reform should be voted for the following administration, and not benefit any acting president. Furthermore, the impacts on the rest of the political system should be carefully taken into account.

For instance, in France, Jacques Chirac reduced the presidential term from 7 to 5 years, and I supported the move. But he didn't change the term of office for the members of the parliament (for example to 4 years), which I considered a must in order to avoid a major disruption in the dynamics of what passes for my country's democracy: our MPs are also elected for 5 years, and our President has the power to dissolve the parliament... As expected, this new political calendar is crippling France's Fifth Republic. But hopefully, the case for asynchronous elections may soon be raised, now that my fellow citizens have realized that they have to do with President Hollande for 5 years without any chance to make him change

No such problem in Korea, where Presidents are elected for 5 years, and MPs for 4 years. 

Back to South Korea's Super PAC now. In this local election year, the big prize remains Seoul City Hall, the ideal springboard to Cheong Wa Dae, with PARK Won-soon still leading in the most recent polls:

"Poll data shows incumbents leading ahead of local elections" (The Hankyoreh 20140310)

According to The Hankyoreh (progressive), the incumbent would win with a comfortable margin against any of the 3 declared Saenuri candidates: LEE Hye-hoon (56.1 v. 24.7%), KIM Hwang-sik (51.1 v. 31.8%), and CHUNG Mong-joon (47.5 v. 39.2%).

The closest to PGH among the 3, LEE champions the fight against chaebol domination, and caused a splash when she criticized the Lotte World Tower in Jamsil. But for the moment, this positioning as a counterweight within the conservative party doesn't make her very audible against the charismatic liberal incumbent. Serving as Prime Minister under the very divisive LEE Myung-bak doesn't help KIM's cause, even if a former Supreme Court justice from Jeollanam-do sounds like the perfect profile to reach across the aisle.

If CHUNG Mong-joon has got the most to lose in joining the race, he would all but secure a presidential win in 2017 by defeating PARK on June 4th. His main rival would then be AHN Cheol-soo, who would have only 3 years to completely reform Korean politics.

Right now, Saenuri is much more the well oiled machine of a party than a Democratic Party completely split between different currents, and unable to build a common platform beyond opposition and demonstrations. UPP scandals were the perfect opportunity to clarify ideological lines, but the organization keeps piling up electoral losses and postponing long overdue reforms.

If the rapprochement between the DP and AHN Cheol-soo's new party was inevitable (be it only as a non-aggression pact ahead of the upcoming elections), the discussions promise to be as complex as the ones that failed during the autumn 2012 and paved the way for PARK Geun-hye's victory over MOON Jae-in. 

With or without KIM Han-gil's help, AHN has yet to prove he can reform the system from the inside. So far, he managed to recruit more than a few key lawmakers for his "New Politics" party, but disappointed by drafting a veteran politico who worked for CHUN Doo-hwan, PARK Geun-hye and MOON Jae-in (YOON Yeo-jun), and by forgetting to nominate at least one woman in his executive team. 

In any case, this thankless task won't be as glamorous as a tenure as Seoul mayor and come 2017, AHN could find himself in a 2012-like situation, should she man he helped get the job in 2011 get reelected next June.

June 4th really looks like a make-or-break moment for both PARK and CHUNG, to the point the latter may decide to pull out of the race. After all, he already did that during his presidential bid, and in favor of ROH Moo-hyun against LEE Hoi-chang (just a reminder how lines can move here). Besides, CHUNG can do without the prestige of City Hall (cf Hyundai Heavy Industries, ASAN Institute, FIFA, 7 terms as a lawmaker...).

But if "Paris is worth a mass", Seoul is worth a race, and whoever wins, I'm curious to see which vision for the future of Korea emerges.


Seoul Village 2014
Welcome to our Korean Errlines! Follow Seoul Village on Facebook and Twitter

Add this page to your favorites

* a curse that does have its charms, see for instance "Sejong City and the beauty of lameduckhood"