Cinema Service, one of the two major distributors that dominate the South Korean film market, has announced plans to separate from its parent company Plenus Entertainment.

In a public announcement to the Korean KOSDAQ stock exchange, Plenus Entertainment announced, "A formal separation with Cinema Service [...] is currently underway, and the separation will be confirmed after reaching a final decision by the middle of February."

The split appears to be the result of internal disagreements between Plenus major shareholder Pang Jun-hyuk and Cinema Service founder Kang Woo-suk. Rumours from early winter contend that Plenus Entertainment president Michael Kim submitted his resignation in protest against actions by Pang before a temporary truce was struck.

Kang Woo-suk, a director whose current release Silmido is on pace to become the best-selling movie in Korean history, has made known his intentions to split with Plenus from before the film's release. According to Kang, the company will take up a search for future sources of production capital once Silmido has wrapped up its theatrical release.

Employees at Cinema Service contend that a separation would have little effect on day to day operations, since the film division comprising production, distribution and international sales has been run largely separately from other branches at Plenus.

Shares in Plenus Entertainment dropped on the news, reaching its lowest level since May 2003 before recovering slightly the next day.