Kakao Entertainment Proves Popularity of 'K-Webtoon' at Southeast Asia's Largest Cultural Event 'Thailand Comic Con'

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Kakao Entertainment's global webtoon platform Kakao Webtoon Thailand announced on the 9th that it participated as the sole official webtoon sponsor at 'Thailand Comic Con 2022,' one of the largest cultural events in Southeast Asia.

Kakao Entertainment participated as the official webtoon sponsor through Kakao Webtoon Thailand at the 'Thailand Comic Con 2022' event held for three days from the 28th of last month at Siam Paragon Hall in Bangkok, Thailand. Since its inception in 2014, Thailand Comic Con has been a representative cultural event in Thailand where numerous comic fans gather in one place. This year's event, held offline for the first time in four years due to COVID-19, featured a total of 79 content-related companies including global corporations such as Disney, bilibili, Bandai, and Capcom, attracting around 70,000 fans to the venue.

The booth was designed to allow visitors to experience the Kakao Webtoon brand and its representative IPs in various ways. The K-webtoons featured this year included three major works: the super IP 'Solo Leveling,' which has recorded 14.2 billion views worldwide, and two large-scale romance fantasies, 'The Villain's Ending is Death' and 'Inaccessible Lady.' Over 3,000 visitors, including fans cosplaying characters from Kakao Entertainment IPs, visited the Kakao Webtoon Thailand booth.

In particular, the Kakao Webtoon Thailand booth introduced not only 'K-webtoons' discovered in Korea but also local premium IPs discovered in Thailand. 'Love Destiny' is a local webtoon produced by Supercomics Studio, a subsidiary of Kakao Entertainment, based on a popular Thai novel. 'How to Make Praapai Fall in Love,' a modern webtoon adaptation of literary works by Suntornpu, known as the 'Thai Shakespeare,' and 'One Day, the Leader of the Idol Group I Love Disappeared,' based on the heroic stories of Korean War veterans, also attracted fans.

Events for local cosplayers were also organized. Local popular cosplay influencer Tames Melos cosplayed as the male lead Callistos Regulus from 'The Villain's Ending is Death,' and popular cosplayer Ernis Hime researched the accessories and costumes of the female lead Penelope Eckart for over 30 days before showcasing them. Additionally, the activities of Kakao Entertainment's global task force against illegal distribution, established to protect creative works, were introduced.

Hyun Yang-won, head of Kakao Entertainment Thailand, said, "We were able to confirm the great interest in K-webtoons in the Southeast Asian region at both the 'K-Webtoon Exhibition' and 'Thailand Comic Con 2022' events. We are actively launching K-webtoons and discovering local premium IPs in collaboration with local creators, and secondary creative projects utilizing excellent IPs are also progressing vigorously. From next year, the results will be revealed one after another."