Korean media startups
Since 2016, I have been involved in the unique ecosystem of Korean media startups, as former managing editor of Korea Exposé and creative director of InterV. I experienced the first wave of ‘big money’ coming into a then-nonexistent market in 2016, attempting to create alternative storytellers to the mainstream newspapers and broadcasters. This helped create experiments that are well known in Korea today, like Newneek, Dotface and ArtCulture4U. In recent years I’ve also seen the stagnation, as COVID-19 hit and many initial ventures shut down.
With its well-plugged population, South Korea has a huge variety in media consumption, thousands of registered outlets, and many more in the chaotic online sea. The media market, especially the market of new experiments, is dynamic, unstable, and full of interesting question marks. Scroll below to read my personal experiences.
Managing Editor | Korea Exposé
Korea Exposé was a journalism start-up that provided more nuanced, underrepresented narratives of the Korean peninsula in English, beyond North Korean missiles and viral K-pop stories. As the managing editor from 2016-2018, I spearheaded and edited content projects (including longform, podcasts, video/film), and contributed to business and marketing ventures. I oversaw the entire team (around 10 full-timers at its peak) and communicated with an extensive network of outside contributors. I created the KÉ Journalism School, and taught from high schoolers to adults. I also wrote articles on human rights, social issues, arts and feminism.
KÉ received funding from Mediati in 2017, widely seen as Korea’s first media startup accelerator. Unfortunately the company did not succeed in finding a sustainable business model, and folded the team in 2018. Most content is still accessible on YouTube and the remaining blog, linked below.
Photo by Youjin Do.
Creative Director | InterV
InterV is a short documentary brand focusing on community engagement, produced by the parent company MediaOri. As the creative director from 2019-2022, I created eight short documentaries for InterV, while developing its brand identity as a creative platform interweaving journalism and experimental cinema to highlight the lives of women and social issues.
I also built and led teams customized for different business and community projects, including sponsored content, educational workshops and events/campaigns centering around InterV documentaries. I’m especially proud of the women’s rights event we organized for Team Flame, a renowned journalist duo that broke the nationally notorious Telegram scandals — which a 2020 film of mine was based on.
