○ Fair draws 128 companies from 13 countries and generates export consultations valued at USD 22.8 million, up 23.2% from USD 18.5 million the previous year
○ Event adopts a B2B focus for the first time, expanding global exchanges through the Global Webtoon Seminar and the World Comics and Webtoon Critics Conference
Gyeonggi Province achieved a record USD 22.8 million in export consultations at the 2026 Gyeonggi International Webtoon Fair after adopting a business-to-business (B2B) focus this year to expand opportunities for concrete business cooperation.
Held at the Bucheon Webtoon Complex Center from September 17 to 18 in partnership with the Gyeonggi Content Agency, the fair brought together 128 companies from 13 countries. Participants held 609 business consultations, with export consultations worth USD 22.8 million. This represented a 23.2% increase from the USD 18.5 million recorded at the previous year’s fair.
This year, the province minimized consumer-facing (B2C) programming and reorganized around B2B, strengthening support for the overseas expansion of Korean webtoon companies. During the business consultation sessions, Korean and international webtoon companies and buyers held one-on-one meetings covering areas such as the export and distribution of webtoon intellectual property, co-production, and investment. Participating companies discussed concrete opportunities for cooperation, including entry into overseas markets, content distribution, and joint projects.
Alongside business exchanges among industry stakeholders, the event featured the Global Webtoon Seminar and the World Comics and Webtoon Critics Conference, providing a platform for international exchange across creation, critique, and the broader webtoon industry.
At the Global Webtoon Seminar on September 17, experts delivered presentations and participated in discussions on the Japanese manga industry’s hit-making system, the opportunities and challenges facing Korean webtoons from the perspective of the Japanese market, and strategies for expanding Korean webtoon intellectual property overseas.
Eigen Matsui, a former editor-in-chief at Shueisha, a specialized Japanese publisher of manga and entertainment content, introduced the system through which Weekly Shonen Jump has discovered popular works for more than 40 years. Takeshi Kikuchi, director of the Manga Research Institute, discussed the opportunities and challenges facing Korean webtoons from the perspective of the Japanese market. Kang Tae-jin, CEO of Conist, shared case studies and relevant data on the global expansion of Korean webtoon intellectual property.
The World Comics and Webtoon Critics Conference, held on September 18, brought together comics and webtoon experts from Korea and other countries, including the United States, Japan, and France. Participants discussed the potential links between comic literacy—the ability to read and understand comics—and the webtoon industry. They also explored the cultural value of comics and webtoons and discussed future directions for industry development.
Gyeonggi Province previously held a Global Webtoon Seminar in Tokyo on August 26, continuing its B2B engagement with companies in overseas markets. A total of 46 Korean and Japanese webtoon companies took part in the Tokyo event, where they shared industry trends and overseas expansion strategies. Of these, 12 Korean companies and 14 Japanese companies also joined business consultation sessions.