KOREAN INFORMATION SERVICE
The entrance of the Korea Comics Museum features sculptures of various comic characters.
YOUNG KOREANS are nearly as serious about comics as they are about street protesting. Even though the comic strip was invented in America, it has been other nations that have embraced the art form as an artistic statement. Korea is no exception. All the animation scutwork for shows like "The Simpsons" is done in Korea not just because the labor is less expensive, but because workers there have a real sensitivity for the product. O little town of Bucheon,
where cartoons are king
Burl Burlingame
bburlingame@starbulletin.comAs Detroit is the city of big cars, and Chernobyl is the city of background radiation, Korea's Bucheon is the city of cartoons.
Now about the size of Honolulu, only a few decades ago Bucheon was a rural farm town about an hour's drive from Seoul. The city government decided to focus on a cluster of related industries and they chose film production. Along for the ride came the cartoon industry, and Bucheon became the headquarters of the Korea Comics Museum.
City streets in Bucheon are painted with comic characters. Parks have gigantic sculptures of comic heroes. School kids learn computer animation techniques. One of the largest film festivals in Asia is Bucheon's PiFan, devoted to fantasy and animated films.
The International Comic Book Fair is regularly held in Bucheon, and in the one held this last fall, more than 80 Korean publishers were present, along with dozens of representatives from other countries. The festival even featured a cartoon-themed musical concert.
Dozens of Korean websites are devoted to cartoons. A good starting point for browsing is www.cartoon.or.kr/sitelink/index.php.
At the heart of Bucheon's comics industy is the Cartoon Information Center, a former industrial plant converted into the ultimate comics library and school. The collection contains more than 40,000 volumes, all cross-indexed on a gigntic visual database.
The CIC also holds classes and lectures, courses and competitions for Korean students interested in the field. Korean universities offer credit courses in the study of foreign masterpieces like Art Spiegleman's "Maus" and the collected works of R. Crumb.
The first Korean cartoon was published in 1907. Last year, more than 117 million books were printed in Korea, and comics amounted for more than a third of all titles. No wonder the Korean government has launched the Korean Culture Contents Association, dedicated to supporting the export of Korean comics abroad. If Hyundai can do it, why not Korean animated classics like "My Beautiful Girl, Mari" -- which swept the prestigious Annecy Animation Festival in France last year.
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