The 2023 KCON Japan, which is considered the leading festival of Korean culture in the island nation, was held from May 12-14, 2023, and attracted about 480,000 visitors to Makuhari Messe Hall in the Tokyo suburb of Chiba. (CJ ENM)

By Yoo Yeon Gyeong

The country's intellectual property rights (IPR) last year saw a record-high surplus.

The global popularity of Korean cultural content like dramas, movies, webtoons and K-pop led to revenue from IPR to cultural and artistic content breaking an all-time high.

The Bank of Korea on March 20 released data on IPR trade saying the nation's surplus in the sector last year reached a record annual high of USD 180 million.

Revenue from IPR to cultural and artistic content such as music and videos was the main driver of the black figure, but that from industrial property rights such as patents and trademarks remained in the red.

By category, profit from IPR last year reached USD 2.21 billion, up from USD 1.74 billion in 2022. That from IPR to cultural and artistic content hit a record-high USD 1.1 billion, with music and videos accounting for USD 950 million.

The black figure in culture and arts more than doubled from USD 410 million in 2021 to USD 880 million in 2022.

IPR to research and development and software recorded a surplus of USD 1.11 billion. Computer software including games saw a deficit of USD 2.12 billion, similar to the level of the previous year.

Industrial property rights finished USD 1.86 billion in the red but greatly down from USD 2.62 billion in 2022. By sector, those to patents and utility models saw a deficit of USD 700 million and those to trademarks and franchises minus USD 1.17 billion.

"While demand continued for Korean cultural content such as music, dramas and webtoons, more performances were held abroad after the COVID-19 pandemic," said Moon Hye-jung, leader of the bank's balance of payments team. "The surplus in software copyrights also grew thanks to increased exports of domestic programs to the overseas subsidiaries of domestic conglomerates."

dusrud21@korea.kr