🌐 Open a branch

Ways to take part

The platform fee pays for using our automation tools. The press card is an ID issued by The Korean Today and is not an official qualification.

Benefits of opening a branch and being appointed branch head

🏆 Official recognition and status ≈ ₩3,100,000 / $2,310

• Branch head certificate of appointment and badge ₩500,000 / $373
• "○○ Reporter" business cards
• 100% of order package (STANDARD/DELUXE/PREMIUM) revenue goes to the branch (no cap)
• Appointment as a director of the AI Convergence Society (AICS) ₩1,000,000 / $746
• Appointment as a specialist professor of the WIA Lifelong Education Center ₩1,000,000 / $746
• Right to publish on headquarters — from appointment, 10 articles a day per branch (up to 300 a month) ₩600,000 / $447 a year

🧠 The headquarters newsroom at your side — new tools in 2026 New

The Korean Today does more than write articles. Headquarters develops and runs its own servers, sites and AI tools. Because we do not rent other platforms, we can build the features branch heads need and add them directly.

• KT Newsroom AI™ — Our own AI engine trained on 13 years of The Korean Today newsroom tone. One press release becomes a full 1,500-character article within 30 seconds, with automatic photo analysis and captions. Published after headquarters review.
• Write from files — Upload a press release (HWP, PDF, DOCX) and AI drafts an article. Read it, edit it and publish.
• AI images — With no photo, an image is made from the article content.
• Automatic translation into 88 languages and a 3-line summary for every article — Your article reaches readers worldwide.
• Spell checker — Anyone can check for free at speller.thekorean.today.
• Quality score — Automatically checks the headline, body and photo captions before publishing and shows what to fix.
• Press card and columnist card — Supported by headquarters. A card with your name is made and placed below your articles.
• Kotu chatbot — Kotu answers readers' questions first.
• AI reads our articles directly (MCP) — The headquarters site is listed in the Claude MCP directory, so AI assistants can find and read The Korean Today articles and present them with their source. Your articles are read inside AI answers too.
• Card news — In the headquarters admin screen, pick your article and instantly make 6 cards and a 15-second video for Instagram and Facebook.

🎬 Social media content automation New

Saves ₩1,500,000 / $1,120 a month — 30 articles × designer fee of ₩50,000 / $37 per article

One article by a branch head → 6 card news images plus a 15-second video for Instagram, Facebook and Reels are generated automatically. In the headquarters admin screen, open the card news menu, pick your article and press once.

📚 Publishing and education

• E-book (PDF, EPUB2, EPUB3, *.wiabooks) and POD publishing after writing headquarters columns and branch posts
  • Custom editing and design support
  • Distribution through major e-book platforms and WIA Book
  • No limit on WIA Book publishing requests (regular members: 3 books per 24 hours)
• Free support to establish a WIA Lifelong Education Center (only when the branch is registered as a media outlet)
  • Center establishment consulting fee ₩5,500,000 / $4,100 + α
  • Center website setup (LMS included) ₩1,100,000 / $820

🤝 Regular training and network ≈ ₩2,000,000 / $1,490

• Regular branch webinars, Korea and overseas ₩1,200,000 / $895 a year
  • Overseas branches: twice a month, second and third Thursdays at 9 p.m. (Korea time)
  • Second Thursday: combined webinar for all branches (Korean)
  • Third Thursday: overseas branch webinar (English)
• First-half and second-half in-person appointment ceremonies ₩800,000 / $596 a year
  • April 7 Newspaper Day, October 10 WIA Journalists Day
  • ※ For smooth running, events are held on a Saturday near those dates

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Inheritance and continuity

• A tiger leaves its skin, a person leaves a name - The right to run a The Korean Today branch can be inherited
• If inheritance is declined: the (provisional) Smilestory Foundation donates yearly in the branch head's name (including royalties) for 70 years after death

3 revenue channels

① 📨 Order packages: press release publishing orders — 100% of sales go to the branch

• STANDARD ₩55,000 / $41 / DELUXE ₩110,000 / $82 / PREMIUM ₩330,000 / $246 — paid per package
• Outside companies and organizations apply directly on the form (order-form.html?ref=branch-name)
• AI writes the text (KT Newsroom AI™) → held at headquarters → published after review

🎨 Banner ad orders (PREMIUM package + design option) — 100% of sales go to the branch

• 30 days in the main sidebar of headquarters (thekorean.today)
• Uploaded by the client or designed by the branch head (+₩10,000 / $7 option)

② 📰 Headquarters paid articles and banners — 70% of sales go to the branch (30% headquarters)

Orders taken directly on headquarters www.thekorean.today

• Paid articles taken through "Charge settings" in headquarters article writing (default ₩110,000 / $82) — the amount before VAT is split 7 to the branch, 3 to headquarters (e.g. ₩110,000 / $82 → net ₩100,000 / $75 → branch ₩70,000 / $52 · headquarters ₩30,000 / $22)
• Banner ads placed from the headquarters admin use the same 7 : 3 split
• Ordered articles run at the top of the headquarters front page for 24 hours first, and your share (70%) appears in your branch dashboard

③ 🏆 Korean Brand Awards orders (3 awards in one) — 70% of the review fee

• Korean Brand Award / Consumer Satisfaction Award / Best CEO Award
• ₩330,000 / $246 per category — multiplied automatically for several categories
• AI articles tailored to each award + physical certificate delivered

Other revenue channels (run at the branch's discretion)

• 70% of WIA Journalists Association reporter recruitment revenue
• Member reporters' platform fees: 7 to the branch, 3 to headquarters
• 100% of Agoda affiliate revenue
• 70% of WIA Lifelong Education Center lecture revenue
• 70% of exam fees as WIA international certification affiliate revenue

🧭 How branch heads are selected

Application → WIA 360 character assessment (free, 15–20 minutes, 88 languages) → video interview → appointment and establishment fee payment

A branch head gathers and reports the voices of a community, so we first check basic character together. The assessment result is reference material for the interview; decisions are not made on the score alone.

Not taken yet → take it free

💰 Establishment and monthly platform costs

• Establishment fee (one-time): ₩4,950,000 / $3,690
• Establishment fee (monthly, 48 months): ₩122,000 / $99 a month × 48 (total ₩5,856,000 / $4,752, prepaid)
• Monthly platform fee: ₩77,000 / $52 (frozen)

Now 35 branches · Tier 1 up to 60

Tier basis: operating branches in Korea and overseas combined

Dollar amounts are won ÷ reference exchange rate (2026-11-08) · The tier amount at the time of application is kept for 7 days

🤝 Appointment, renewal and termination of branch heads

Who we seek: people who can contribute to their area through journalism

Term: 4 years from appointment. There is no separate cost for automatic renewal.

Reasons for non-renewal

• Causing a public scandal
• Disrupting the pricing of branch revenue models
• Monthly branch webinar attendance (including excused absences) below 50%
• Fewer than 416 published articles (2 a week × 52 weeks × 4 years)
• Monthly platform fee overdue (due by the 10th of the next month) 50% or more of the time over 4 years

Automatic termination

• Giving internal branch information to others
• If the monthly platform fee is 3 months overdue (one text notice), admin access is restricted; at 6 months overdue the branch is terminated automatically