Other cartoons such as Batman, Superman and Rugrats are also drawn in South Korea, where animation has suddenly become a growth industry.

AKOM Production Co, an animation production company in Seoul, has been drawing The Simpsons for 10 years. Other cartoons drawn at AKOM include The Little Lulu from Canada, Arthur from France and The Land Before Time from the United States.

Korea now ranks third in the world after the United States and Japan in the business of ``Original Equipment Manufacturing,'' or drawing a cartoon according to a story board provided by a client.

Film Roman in North Hollywood sends the story board and taped voices for a Simpson instalment to Seoul to be animated. After the drawing is done, AKOM sends it back to Film Roman to add music and sound effects to the voicedcartoon.

Chief executive officer of AKOM, Nelson Shin says Korea is strong in technical skills but weak in creativity and innovation -- a big part of the pre-production process.

Pre-production involves creating the character, writing the script and making the story board. One reason Korea cannot compete in the world market with its own characters is because few people are experienced in pre-production, Shin says.

``The characters are not appealing to the world market,'' he says. ``A good character has to have personality, not only the movements.''

One notable exception was Little Dinosaur Dooly, which was sold to German media group Beta for $250,000 in January to be screened in 10 theatres in Berlin.

It usually takes 10 weeks to finish a 22-minute cartoon, Shin says. The cost ranges from $120,000 to $200,000 per episode.

Koreans have developed good animation skills, since they have been doing work for Japanese companies since the 1960s and for the United States since the 1980s, Shin says. Butthere are not many people who can write good scripts.

Shin says that Koreans should do more co-production with foreign countries to learn how to come up with appealing concepts, write scripts and market the products.

President of B29 Enterprise, Kim Hyuk agrees Korea has excellent animation skills but lacks ability in writing scripts or pre-production.

Established last May, B29 Enterprise recently released a digital animation called The Steel Force.

``This animation uses the theme of transforming the four heavenly guardians of Buddhism into robots,'' Kim says.

It took one-and-a-half years and cost 1.5 billion won ($1.25 million) to produce.

Kim says that of the 200 animation studios in South Korea, only two or three concentrate on creation alone. The rest mostly do OEM.

Shin is also working on an animation feature called Empress Chung, based on a famous Korean folk tale.

The animated film, due to be released at the end of next year, tells the story of Chung, the dutiful daughterof a blind man. She helps her father gain his sight by exchanging her life for 300 sacks of rice. Moved by Chung's kind heart, the Sea King spares her life and she later becomes an empress on earth.

``We revised the script three times to create a character amenable to a world audience,'' Shin says.

Shin plans to set up an animation town in Chonan, 80 km South of Seoul, which will be equipped with computer game arcades, animation studios, theme parks, gym equipment and living facilities.

Shin chose Chonan as the site because there were 17 universities there, including Dankook University where Shin is an animation professor.

``The animation studio can provide jobs for students in the field after they graduate,'' he says.