E-Sports International

South Korea
How is esports classified in South Korea

Source: esportsinsider.com
 How is esports classified in South Korea

As the birthplace of esports, South Korea was one of the first countries to see
esports as a legitimate sport that goes alongside the big sports such as football and
hockey. Esports is also now an esports job category within South Korea

Source: esportsinsider.com
 How is esports classified in South Korea

As the birthplace of esports, South Korea was one of the first countries to see
esports as a legitimate sport that goes alongside the big sports such as football and
hockey. Esports is also now an esports job category within South Korea

One of the first steps taken in supporting esports in South Korea came from
Korea’s Ministry of Culture which included sponsoring the world Cyber Game
Challenge, the predecessor to the worlds first international esports competition
which took place in October 2000. The World Cyber Games had a prize pool of
$300,000 which at the time was highly impressive.

Source: esportsinsider.com
The National Bodies and Organisations

Source: seoulz.com
 The National Bodies and Organisations
There are multiple organisations dedicated to esports within South Korea. Some of the few examples
include:

Source: seoulz.com
 The National Bodies and Organisations
There are multiple organisations dedicated to esports within South Korea. Some of the few examples
include:

IEOC Korea – IEOC stands for The International Esports Omnipotent Committee. This organisation focuses on
supporting esports across the world which in term means they support Korea. Their Ultimate Goal is to create a
Olympic-type tournament that covers a wide variety of different games.

Source: seoulz.com
 The National Bodies and Organisations
There are multiple organisations dedicated to esports within South Korea. Some of the few examples
include:

IEOC Korea – IEOC stands for The International Esports Omnipotent Committee. This organisation focuses on
supporting esports across the world which in term means they support Korea. Their Ultimate Goal is to create a
Olympic-type tournament that covers a wide variety of different games.

KeSPA – KeSPA is the Korea Esports association that was created to manage Esports within South Korea.
It was created by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. This Organisation was the Korean
government's way of being ahead of the ‘curve’ so to speak in 2000. KeSPA are members of the
IESF(International Esports Federation) and the KOC (Korean Olympic Committee). KeSPA host a yearly
tournament called the KeSPA Cup with prize pools around $100,000

Source: seoulz.com
 The National Bodies and Organisations
There are multiple organisations dedicated to esports within South Korea. Some of the few examples
include:

IEOC Korea – IEOC stands for The International Esports Omnipotent Committee. This organisation focuses on
supporting esports across the world which in term means they support Korea. Their Ultimate Goal is to create a
Olympic-type tournament that covers a wide variety of different games.

KeSPA – KeSPA is the Korea Esports association that was created to manage Esports within South Korea.
It was created by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. This Organisation was the Korean
government's way of being ahead of the ‘curve’ so to speak in 2000. KeSPA are members of the
IESF(International Esports Federation) and the KOC (Korean Olympic Committee). KeSPA host a yearly
tournament called the KeSPA Cup with prize pools around $100,000

LCK – LCK which stands for League Of Legends Champions Korea is the top organisation for LoL
(League Of Legends) Esports within South Korea. They operate 2 seasons and have 10 teams. LCK
is in cooperation with KeSPA and Riot Games (The Creators of LoL). The LCK’s aim is to serve as
a direct route for LoL pro players to enter the LoL World Championships.
Source: seoulz.com
 Most Popular Esports Games in South Korea
The most popular esports game in
south Korea is league of legends
(LoL)
Korea has its own league called LoL champions
Korea which is where the ten best teams in the
LoL was released in 2009 and was country compete during a season and with
developed by Riot Games. The organisations like ESPN now showing games on
basic goal of the game is to their broadcast this competition has now become
destroy the enemy team’s nexus one of the biggest in the country.
which is a structure within their
base. The player acts as the
summoner who controls their On average professional LoL
champion who can use unique players earn $200,000 a year.
skills and abilities to battle and kill
the enemies. Some of the best
Korean LoL teams
are DAMWON
GAMING, T1,
DRX, and DRX
Esports
https://seoulspace.com/top-10-most-popular-e
sports-in-korea-best-of-2022/ Jack Ewins
https://www.statista.com/topics/4266/league-of
www.globalesports.org  -legends/#topicHeader__wrapper
Most popular Esports games in South Korea
 Another big game is “Player
Unknowns Battlegrounds” (PUBG)
PUBG, is an online multiplayer battle royale game developed
by PUBG Corporation. It was inspired by the Japanese film
Battle Royale. In PUBG up to 100 players will jump out of
a plane onto an island where they will search for items
and gun which they will used to kill other players and try
to be the last man standing.
Historically Koreans have been much more
supportive of Korean games, so when
Fortnite came out many of the Korean
Some of the best PUBG
players stayed on PUBG as their friends
teams in Korea are
were on it and they wanted to play a
Element Mystic, OZ
Korean game which is why it is still popular
Gaming and APE Prince.
in Korea now.

The mobile version is also loved by Koreans

and some tournaments for this game can
have prize pools ranging from $30,000 to
$150,000.
 Most popular players in South Korea
 Certain players such as “Faker” and “Wolf” have contributed hugely to the popularity of LoL
especially in Korea with many players in Korea wanting to be just like them.

Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok was born in In his career he has earned

1996 and he currently plays as a $1,367,521 from prizes and is
midlaner for T1. He plays Ahri, still winning tournaments.
Fizz, LeBlanc, Orianna and Zed.
He is one of 2 players to ever win
three world championships in 2013,
2015 and 2016 and has a total of 10
“Champions Korea” titles.

Sometimes referred to as “the

unkillable demon king”
Most popular players in South Korea
StarCraft 2 is also a very popular e-sport in korea. One of the best players of this
game is “Rogue”.

Lee "Rogue" Byeong-yeol (born January 13, 1994) is a 

Korean Zerg player who is currently playing for 
Dragon Phoenix Gaming. He has won many of the biggest
tournaments such as the IEM World
He was formerly known as "Savage“. Championship, Katowice 2020, the WCS
Global Finals 2017 and countless more.
Rogue has earned over
£1,000,000 from prizes
ESPORTS EVENTS THAT
SOUTH KOREA HOLD &
THE ORGANISATIONS +
STRUCTURE OF SOUTH
KOREAN ESPORTS

Done by Flynn
Rochford
WHAT EVENTS CAN BE HELD IN ESPORTS?

 LANs (Local Area Network events) are normally

created and managed by the organizations who hold
competitions for a certain game. An example of this is
the ESL who hold events for games such as CSGO and
League of Legends events such as LEC Seasonal
Majors in areas of the world like Stockholm and Berlin
LANs are known to be a “major” event
 LANs bring the fans as close as they can be to the for any Esport game. This is classified
games’ icons, heroes and idols whilst hearing the Cosplay of “Wukong”
deafening voice of the crowd and shoutcasters during
where Teams from across the country or
even the globe compete for a heavy cash from League of Legends
whatever match is being played.
 Some people even go further in attending LANs by
prize over an amount of days in an arena
dressing up in cosplay! This makes the experience for
newcoming fans of a certain Esports and diehard fans The biggest prize pool from a LAN event
even better for those attending is known to be over $40 million during
“The International 2021” for DOTA 2
(Per
https://www.esportsearnings.com/tourna
ments
)
WHAT EVENTS HAVE SOUTH KOREA
HELD?
 In June 2022, South Korea held the LCK Summer
Major in Seoul. The Prize Pool was 375 million
Won (South Korea’s currency)
 Gen.G were crowned champions of LCK Summer
and won a collective of 200 million Won
($147,000 total) after beating the powerhouses of
T1
 The event was held for over a month, with group
stage games being played online until the 17th and
18th of August where games were played on the
main stage for Playoff games and the Grand Final.
 More on Gen.G’s win
 https://www.oneesports.gg/league-of-legends/lck-s Official Picture of the atmosphere and Main Stage of the LCK Summer
ummer-2022-finals-gen-g/ event that South Korea (photo from LCK)
WHAT OTHER EVENTS?
 Another event that South Korea have held was the VCT Korea Stage 2
Challengers. VCT is also known as the Valorant Champions Tour.
 The Prize Pool for the competition was known to be around a total of
$85,000 with Winners DRX qualifying to compete in the Copenhagen LAN
for VCT Masters
 The event was held for over a month, starting on May 21st and finishing up
on the 26th of June, with group stage and playoffs having to be played over
the course of the month
 DRX would go onto Copenhagen and meet other well known teams like
FNATIC, Guild Esports, XSET and OPTIC
DRX Celebrating their 3-0 win over Maru to
 DRX’s win and more
earn a place to VCT Masters in Copenhagen
 (
https://egw.news/valorant/news/16980/drx-qualified-for-vct-2022-masters-sta
ge-2-copenha-NcuR0FCWT
)
ARE THERE ANY ORGANISATIONS THAT
HELP GROW ESPORTS IN SOUTH KOREA?
 Yes! South Korea have their own national body for Esports named KESPA (Korean
Esports Association)
 KESPA is a little different to the British Esports Association though. While the BEA are
wanting to help grow interest of Esports and help teams in the UK also grow in the
Esports Market, KESPA’s objective is to help control large events like LANs
 KESPA formed early on in 2000 by the Ministry of culture, sport and tourism to “get
ahead of the curve” after the initial release of Starcraft Brood War in 1999. KESPA was
also had a huge responsibility towards the growth and popularity of Starcraft which is
now an official ESL tournament with over 50 teams now competing for Majors
 KESPA are also linked to the International Esports Federation (IESF) and to the Korean
Olympic Committee after the Esports events of Street Fighter 5 and Rocket League were
brought to Tokyo for the Intel World Open, which is an Olympic Supported Showcase.
The Prize Pool for each region (EU, NA, OCE) would accumulate to $500,000
 More on RL in Tokyo (
https://earlygame.com/rocket-league/intel-world-open-rocket-league-Olympics)
SO HOW ARE KOREAN ORGANISATIONS
DIFFERENT TO THE UK’S?
 The main difference between the BEA and KESPA is that the British Esports Association are
trying to still promote Esports and how it is a business on the rise. The BEA also try to make
Esports all inclusive for everyone and for everyone to be able to take a liking any game on
show. For Korea, it’s a whole lot different
 Because of the almost 18 year difference in formation between the BEA and KESPA,
KESPA already have a major headstart being able to focus on certain games at the start of
formation with Starcraft in the early 2000s. This gives KESPA the chance to now focus on
events being held in places like Seoul and Pyongchang for major tournaments and to focus
on getting a large attendance in person for events such as LANs. For KESPA now, it is their
opportunity to help promote South Korean teams outside of Starcraft and into other games.
South Korea have already expanded outside of the main bunch of games like Starcraft,
League of Legends and PUBG. South Korea now have teams such as Seoul Dynasty in the
Overwatch League being in the top half finishing consistently, whilst individual players
make their way over to NA teams like Dallas Fuel and Florida Mayhem
 For the BEA it will take a long time to promote the business and recreational side that
Esports brings and that will likely turn from a long term to short term with the amount of
events now being held in the UK and shows giving access to Showcases and Events to UK
Consumers