EDITOR’S NOTE: K-Everything is a CNN Original Series hosted by Daniel Dae Kim that explores the global impact of South Korean culture. The series premieres on CNN International on May 9 at 8 a.m. ET. You can also stream the series on the CNN app.
For the past 40 years, South Korean animators have been the invisible workforce behind many of North America’s most beloved cartoons.
These artists, often called “in-betweeners,” are responsible for drawing the majority of an episode’s roughly 30,000 frames.
But unlike studios in North America and Japan, South Korean production houses have struggled to create original animations that resonate with audiences, at home or abroad.
“The craft of animation is being done at a very high level, but it’s being done in ways that don’t allow for creative expression,” says Daniel Martin, associate professor of film studies at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in Daejeon.
That’s changing, though. The recent success of “K‑Pop Demon Hunters” — a North American production about Korean culture — has triggered fresh debate about why South Korea hasn’t had its own animated hit; and a billion-dollar government investment hopes to unlock the nation’s unrealized animation potential.
The 89-year-old animator, through his animation studio, AKOM, has had a hand in iconic cartoons from “The Simpsons” to “Batman: The Animated Series,” and feature films like “The Land Before Time” sequels, and “The Transformers: The Movie.”
Shin, often called the “godfather of animation” in South Korea, was one of the leading figures in the nation’s outsourcing industry. He learned animation in South Korea’s fledgling film scene, but facing limited opportunities, left for the US in 1971.
It was a turbulent decade for American animation, which was experiencing a talent shortage, and Shin found work at DePatie–Freleng Enterprises — the studio behind the Pink Panther titles — where he animated the lightsaber effects in “Star Wars” (1977). When the studio was sold, becoming Marvel Productions in 1981, Shin was promoted to animation director.
But budgets kept shrinking; even Disney reportedly had just 125 animators in 1985. Marvel Productions was desperately trying — and failing — to find animators for its upcoming release, “My Little Pony: The Movie.”
“Then, the (Marvel) Vice President Lee Gunther, he asked me: ‘Why don’t you go to Korea and establish a company?’” recalls Shin. At the time, South Korean wages were low, but there were plenty of skilled animators. So with Marvel’s financial backing, Shin returned to Seoul in 1985 to establish AKOM Studios.
His studio launched with 400 top-tier animators, many of whom, he says, left competitors because he paid more than six times the domestic norm. Over the next four decades, the studio — which became the largest in the country — worked on North American hits like “Arthur” and “Pinky and the Brain,” as well as “The Simpsons,” which it still animates today.
While outsourcing still accounts for a large part of South Korea’s 1.13 trillion won ($760 million) animation sector, it’s in decline. Between 1984 and 2024, South Korea’s economy exploded, with GDP growing eight-fold, and the rising cost of labor has made it less competitive for outsourcing since the early 2000s.
That tension has fueled a push to grow the country’s original animation sector. But there’s been a lack of appetite from investors and audiences alike for homegrown cartoons.
Shin experienced this himself when, in 2005, he personally bankrolled $6.5 million to make AKOM’s only original feature, “Empress Chung,” an adaptation of a traditional Korean folk tale. Although the film was critically acclaimed, it earned back just 2% of its budget on opening weekend, and never received a home release.
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