Disney+ lands in S. Korea amid competition in video streaming market

Disney+, the flagship streaming service of US media giant Walt Disney Co., landed in South Korea on Friday, heating up competition in the country's video streaming market.

The streaming service is now available on its website or in Apple's App Store for iPhones and Google's Play Store for Android devices.

The service distributes various films and TV series from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic and Star, showing their original content hits, like "Loki" and "The Mandalorian."

The move will intensify the competition in the South Korean paid video streaming market led by Netflix.

Disney's service is competitively priced in South Korea against rivals, with a monthly subscription fee of 9,900 won ($8.50), compared with Netflix's lowest monthly price of 9,500 won.

Disney earlier said a spin-off of long-running South Korean television show "Running Man" is among the Korean originals to be released on the platform.

The nearly 2-year-old streaming service had already racked up 116 million subscribers globally as of July thanks to its plethora of popular content.

LG Uplus Corp., a major South Korean mobile carrier, offers Disney+ through its internet protocol television platform in a move to strengthen its competitiveness against rivals KT Corp. and SK Telecom Co. (Yonhap)