The Korea Creative Content Agency, with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, will recruit 118 trainees from April to early May to take part in a webtoon artist training programme, it said on April 21.

The programme is run in two formats: a region-based track and a small-elite track. From 2024 to the present it has produced a total of 182 graduates. Graduates debuted as artists by serialising their works on major webtoon platforms including Naver Webtoon and Kakao Page.

The agency selected 9 specialised platform organisations. Those chosen will take part in the training course for about 6 months. They will receive one-on-one guidance from working professionals to support work planning, story composition and artwork creation. During the training period, trainees must complete at least 3 episodes of a webtoon and a summary of the full synopsis.

The agency will provide trainees with creative production support funds for making works. It will support entry into the market through consultations with major platform companies and production companies, submissions of works and participation in contests. It plans to expand opportunities to enter the industry by running business consultation sessions and linked programmes for trainees' works.

Acting President Hyunseok Yoo (유현석) said, "Webtoons are a core driver of expanding K-content intellectual property (IP) and a content sector with competitiveness in the global market." He added, "By training webtoon talent, we will expand the discovery of original IP and strengthen the foundation for industry growth."