Korean Film Council chairman resigns after two years

Korean Film Council's Chairperson Park Ki-yong will resign from his position as of Wednesday. [KOREAN FILM COUNCIL]

The head of Korea's state-run film council announced Monday that he would resign as the local industry struggles to recover from the pandemic, aggravated by the government's budget cut for 2024.

Korean Film Council (Kofic) chairperson Park Ki-yong said he will resign on Wednesday, after having served since January 2022.

The council will appoint an acting chief next month.

“I feel a heavy sense of responsibility, having not seen Korean films take a leap forward again,” Park said during the resigning ceremony held Monday. “We worked hard alongside the film insiders, the National Assembly, government officials and the council’s staff over the past two years to overcome the biggest crisis that has ever hit the Korean film industry, in the aftermath of Covid-19.”

"I will once again join the film industry as a participant and endeavor to help K-movies regain their past glory," he added.

After his resignation Wednesday, he will go back as a professor at Dankook University’s Graduate School of Culture, Arts and Design, which was his previous job before becoming the chairperson of Kofic.

Park had several significant achievements, such as launching the Asian Film Alliance Network (AFAN) last year, which is a film cooperation organization with seven Asian countries participating, and pushing to establish a film studio, which was one of the council’s long-desired goals.

Meanwhile, the council’s secretary general, Kwon Byung-kyun, also resigned on Monday, prior to Park. He was appointed to the position in January 2023.

BY KIM JI-YE [kim.jiye@joongang.co.kr]