Yen Press, the Hachette Group's American manga and graphic novel publisher, has agreed to take over Ice Kunion's list of manhwa titles.  Founded in 2005 Ice Kunion is a consortium of three Korean manhwa publishers Sigonsa, Seoul Cultural, and Haksen for the purpose of selling their books in the U.S. market.  In addition to adding the manhwa titles from the Ice Kunion publishers to its 2008 list, Yen Press has also added Ice Kunion editorial director Ju-Youn Lee to the Yen Press staff as a senior editor.  Lee will have input on the full range of Yen Press offerings.  Yen Press plans to phase out the Ice Kunion imprint and bring all the books under the Yen Press umbrella.  The addition of the planned 30-40 Ice Kunion titles will nearly double Yen Press' projected 2008 output.

Udon Entertainment had been acting as an agent for Ice Kunion until the two companies decided to part ways at the end of 2006 (see 'Udon Announces Manhwa Line').  Yen Press will take charge of the Ice Kunion inventory and the Ice Kunion Website will soon direct viewers to Yen Press' site.