South Korea holds its annual Korean Festival in Indonesia annually throughout the month of October where several Korean Government institutions help organizing. Among them is the K-Content Expo which this year took the span of 4 days from 3 to 6 October 2019.
Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) Indonesia and Korea Manhwa Contents Agency (KOMACON) held B2B (Business to Business) and B2C (Business to Customer) events in Sheraton Grand Jakarta Gandaria City and Central Park Mall Jakarta respectively. The Business Matching in B2B event on 3 & 4 October is focusing on the interaction of Indonesian and Korean business owners and content creators.
What public can enjoy the most is the Exhibition & Events of B2C activities that was held in Central Park Mall Jakarta from 3 to 6 October 2019 where visitors may experience the latest creative contents from Korea along with fansigning and public performances. On Saturday, 5 October 2019, a public drawing session from the webtoonist of “The Girl and The Geek” Dagabi (Lee Jieun) took place, followed by fansigning session for 20 lucky fans; the same event happened on the last day of the event with the webtoonists of “Que Sera Sera” Gonarija (Go Minjeong) and Sujeong.
During the period of event on 3 to 6 October 2019, visitors could try various and latest creative contents from participating Korean companies where they were divided into several zones: K-Broadcasting, K-Animation & Character, K-Game & VR, K-Comic & Webtoon, K-Beauty, Fashion & K-Pop, and K-Food. There was also K-Merchandise booth that sold toys and products of Korean-Indonesian partnership.
The main stage of K-Content Expo 2019 was graced not only with the Webtoon Drawing Show, but also with Korean Cartoon Character Live Show, Dance Cover performance, Cooking Show from Chef of high-class Korean restaurant, Samwon Garden, and the crowd-gathering performance of Korean boy group IN2IT (read: In to it). Members of IN2IT greeted their Indonesian fans and people who gathered around the main stage with enthusiasm; Ji-ahn, Yeon-tae, In-ho, Hyun-uk, In-Pyo, and Isaac pulled off energetic performance with their songs Amazing, Snapshot, Sorry for My English, and It’s U. They also interacted with fans with a string of local cheesy lines like “Aku cinta kamu” (I love you) and “Mantul” (Great).
According to Greg NamGol Kim as the Regional Director KOCCA Indonesia, K-Content Expo is an annual event to promote Korean creative contents held by KOCCA in selected countries including Indonesia. K-Content Expo is held by the collaboration of KOCCA under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Republic of Korea and Indonesian Agency for Creative Economy (BEKRAF) and supported by Korea Food Industry Association (KFIA), Korean Cultural Center (KCC), Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), and KOTRA-iLotte in hope to bring positive contribution to te development of creative contents in both countries.