These Korean films including "Hotel by the River" directed by Hong Sang-soo are available on the Chinese streaming platform Tencent Video. (Screen capture from Tencent Video's website)

By Xu Aiying 

The Office of the President says the bilateral summit with China on Nov. 15 in Bali, Indonesia, led to Chinese over-the-top (OTT) services resuming online streaming of Korean movies. 

The move came six years after China in 2016 banned all Korean cultural content under an anti-Hallyu law after confirming deployment in Korea of the U.S. missile defense system Terminal High Altitude Area Defense.

Senior Secretary to the President for Public Relations Kim Eun-hye on Nov. 22 told a briefing at the presidential office in Seoul's Yongsan-gu District, "Chinese OTT platforms have begun showing movies by our country's directors," adding, "Korean film services have been resumed after China banned such imports six years ago." 

"We made a small start at the Korea-China summit but want to hope for a highly meaningful future."

"During the summit, President Yoon Suk Yeol stressed the importance of cultural and human exchanges between the people of both countries, especially the need for communication between the younger generation, and (Chinese) President Xi (Jinping) agreed," she said. "Our interpretation is that China responded with the OTT measure thanks to the summit."

Quoting both leaders as emphasizing the significant improvement in bilateral relations over the past 30 years and efforts to promote exchange and communication in a range of fields, the secretary said, "Based on meaningful results from the bilateral summit, we will steadily strive and keep watch while anticipating whether an active future unfolds like China's lifting of its import ban." 

Early this month, the Chinese OTT platform Tencent Video began streaming the 2018 Korean film "Hotel by the River" by director Hong Sang-soo. 

China had released two to three Korean movies per year but suspended them from 2017 due to the anti-Hallyu law. 

xuaiy@korea.kr