□ Key producers and writers of Asian dramas will visit the global performing arts city of Daegu in
October.

□ The Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange (KOFICE), headed by President Kim
Yongrak, and Daegu Metropolitan City, represented by Mayor Kwon Young-jin, signed a
memorandum of understanding (MOU) to co-host the Asian TV Drama Conference (ATDC) on
Thursday, April 12, in the Situation Room on the second floor of City Hall. The 13th ATDC
conference will be held in Daegu on Oct. 17–20, the two sides announced.

□ KOFICE has sponsored ATDC since 2006, enabling drama writers and producers from around Asia
to gather together and discuss future directions for drama development and seek ways of cooperation
for joint production.

□ Initially launched in Busan under the title of East Asia Broadcasting Writers Conference, ATDC
has been held in Seoul, Gyeongju, Incheon, Shanghai, Nagasaki, Kitakyushu, and Fukuoka, with the
aggregate number of participating writers and producers totaling 1,500. The conference has served as
a ground of networking for drama industry professionals of Asian countries and resulted in many coproductions,
including Labyrinth between Korea and China in 2007; Telecinema between Korea and
Japan in 2008; and Kol Kimono between Thailand and Japan in 2015.

□ ATDC has also contributed to boosting local economies by conducting FAM tours that familiarize
writers and producers with major tourist attractions of their host city and location candidates. For
instance, Flower Shadow a Korea-Japan co-production, was shot in the first host city of Busan and
was screened across Japan in 2008. Kol Kimono was set in Kyushu, and the number of Thai visitors to
Kyushu doubled after the drama was released.

□ This year’s program will comprise a plenary meeting on recent tendencies in the drama industry
divided into several sessions, B2B consultations for international joint projects, discussions for
network building, and social gatherings. On the eve of the conference, the 13th ATDC award
ceremony will be held to honor actors and actresses who have made contributions to the development
of Asian dramas.

□ Daegu Metropolitan City will introduce and publicize tourism spots in the city where dramas such
as It’s Okay, That’s Love (2014), Love Rain (2012), and Four Men (2018) were shot to some 300
writers and producers from more than 10 countries, including Korea, China, Japan and Southeast
Asian nations.

□ KOFICE President Kim Yongrak said, “It is significant that the MOU will enable prominent writers
and producers participating in the conference to gather in Daegu, the city of culture and arts, and
discuss joint production of Asian media content that will be competitive in the global market.”

□ Kim Seung-su, Daegu Vice Mayor for Administrative Affairs, said, “The conference in Daegu, a
UNESCO city of musical creativity and of global performing arts, is hoped to be a place of
communication and exchange that gives fresh inspiration and stimuli to Asia’s best writers and
producers. We expect the event will serve as momentum to invite dramas to film in our city and to
develop the local video industry.”