Storytel, a Sweden-based audio book streaming provider, officially launched a Korean service Thursday, tapping the tech-savvy Asian country with an underdeveloped market for audio books.

South Korea is now one of the 19 countries Storytel is currently servicing since its founding in 2005 in the Scandinavian country.

South Korea is the third Asian country Storytel has tapped into so far, following India and Singapore.

Including the Korean language, Storytel has a catalogue of 300,000 titles in 20 different languages.

The local Korean service, at a monthly subscription of 11,900 won ($10.10), allows unlimited connection to some 50,000 unabridged books in Korean, as well as English.

"Korea is one of the most tech-savvy markets. ... You have internet speed and all the fundamentals in terms of subscription habits and streaming habits and love for books," Elin Torstensson, Storytel's expansion manager for the Asia-Pacific region, said in a press conference.

Serena Park, Storytel's country manager for Korea, said she's "sure to emerge as a next-generation entertainment platform in South Korea whose market for audio books is in its initial development phase." 

"Storytel will make efforts to become a content company that matches up to YouTube or Netflix." (Yonhap)