As a resident of Japan, one might be forgiven for assuming that the South Korean film industry is nearly nonexistent, considering the scarcity of offerings here. In fact, South Korean media production is prolific, but it sometimes takes an unexpected circumstance to bring this into clear focus.
If you enjoy watching movies and videos, odds are you have seen at least several foreign releases in Japan during the past year. Odds are even better that none of them originated in South Korea. The same would hold true in reverse if this were being written in Seoul. For the most part, cinematic exchanges between the two countries are a mutual dead end.
Despite cultural agreements signed by Japan and South Korea in recent years, artistic interactions remain minimal, with what could be a flood of entertainment options still a mere trickle.