- 12th president begins two-year term with three priorities: a growth ladder for content firms, global reach for regional IP and wider AI adoption
- After reaching Cologne, Hong Kong, New York and Mexico, the next task is turning exposure into contracts and investment
Kim Yeon began a two-year term as the 12th president of the Chungnam Content Agency on Oct. 1, setting out three priorities in her inaugural address: completing a growth ladder for content companies, developing South Chungcheong Province's stories into content enjoyed worldwide, and expanding opportunities for residents and businesses to adopt artificial intelligence. The keyword is global. Rather than producing content for local consumption, the agency aims to build intellectual property that sells at international markets and on overseas broadcasters and platforms. Her term runs through Sept. 30, 2028.
Three priorities, one goal: regional IP for world markets
The three priorities form a single pipeline. Companies must grow before they have content to sell abroad, and AI can help them produce that content faster and in more languages and formats.
Source: Chungnam Content Agency inaugural address and press release
The stage is set; now comes the shift from showcases to contracts
The agency Kim inherits has rapidly expanded its international footprint over the past year. On Liberation Day in 2025, it became the first regional content agency to screen AI-based content, honoring independence activists from the province, on a Times Square billboard in New York. In June 2025, it signed an agreement with Mexican public cultural broadcaster CANAL22, which plans to air Chungnam content more than 190 times. In September, a three-way agreement with CJ ENM and CANAL22 opened a path to Latin America for works set in the province.
Momentum continued this year. At FILMART 2026 in Hong Kong in March, the agency joined the Korean Film Pavilion to promote works shot in the province and a location incentive covering up to 50% of production costs spent locally. At Gamescom 2026 in Cologne, Germany, in August, three local game studios at the Chungnam Pavilion held 40 business meetings, generating $2.46 million in consultations and two MOUs.
Sources: South Chungcheong Province, Chungnam Content Agency, Korean media reports
Consultations and MOUs, however, are not revenue. Converting overseas contacts into supply contracts, co-productions and exports will be the first real test of Kim's tenure. Her pledge to make Chungnam's stories enjoyed worldwide will ultimately be measured by overseas deals, export value and international broadcast records.
Budget and partnerships as personal tasks
Drawing on eight years as a member of the 10th and 11th South Chungcheong Provincial Council and her experience as a legislative aide at the National Assembly Secretariat, Kim plans to tighten cooperation with the provincial government, the council and central ministries, and to focus on securing national and provincial funds.
Overseas market participation, pavilions and localization all require funding. The agency's 2026 budget, reported to the provincial council in January, totals 22.64 billion won (about $16 million), of which 20.36 billion won, or roughly 90%, goes to program spending. How much central-government export and overseas expansion funding the agency can secure will shape the scale of its global strategy.
Early results in investment and AI
Results arrived in her first week. Two local content companies backed by the agency's 2026 Scale-up Accelerating program were selected for the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' Pre-TIPS program, which provides up to 100 million won in commercialization funding. The agency is also joining AI Festa 26 at COEX in Seoul from Oct. 6 to 8 with companies from the province.
Sources: Chungnam Content Agency, Joongdo Ilbo
Damgara is developing STORYSYNC Pro, a multi-agent AI video production platform that connects script analysis, storyboarding, video generation and review. Metalogy is building ON:展, an immersive content platform that uses AI and 3D Gaussian splatting to handle everything from contest submissions to exhibitions. Both operate in video and immersive fields where language barriers are low and the potential for overseas expansion is high.
"We piloted an integrated support system for early-stage content companies, from direct Pre-TIPS investment to application support, and both companies were selected," Kim said. "We will systematically expand the system so they can advance to the next stage, including TIPS selection." On AI Festa, she said, "We hope this will help local companies showcase their AI technology and content and discover new business opportunities."
"An organization built on trust"
On management, Kim emphasized listening to the field, fair standards and transparent operations. "I will build an organization where people trust one another and work together," she said, adding that she wants that trust to translate into support that creators and companies can feel. In September, the agency received a presidential commendation for contributions to the development of local public institutions.
"We will grow Chungnam's stories into global content and Chungnam's potential into a future industry," Kim said. "Together with our staff, we will find answers in the field and take responsibility through results."
Kim graduated from Kyonggi University and earned her master's and doctoral degrees at its graduate school. She has served as a South Chungcheong provincial council member, a legislative aide at the National Assembly Secretariat and a research professor at Dankook University College of Medicine.