Art Service, a division of South Korean major Plenus Entertainment, has unveiled Korea's latest and most technologically advanced studio complex in Paju, a city outside of Seoul located close to the North Korean border.

The Art Service Studios presently consists of three sound stages and various amenities, with post- production facilities currently under construction. The new complex is expected to become a major competitor for the Seoul Studio Complex, which opened in 1997 and which is operated by the government-supported Korean Film Commission (KOFIC).

The complex is currently housing productions such as Park Chan-wook's Old Boy and Kang Woo-suk's Silmi Island, as well as advertisements and music videos, which Art Service sees as key to maintaining profitability.

"If you look only at film productions, operating a high quality studio such as this one is not profitable," says one Art Service representative. "However when you consider visual contents as a whole, we expect it to do well for us."