Korean-made cartoon characters making their mark

Cartoon characters created by Koreans are growingly popular not just in Korea but abroad. With their unique and adorable looks, more characters have had their popularity extended in the forms of miniatures, character-inspired stationery, movies and publications.

[Korea's iconic characters on stamp]

Pororo in character series stamps (photo above).

TheKorea Postbegan to release character series stamps from 2011. The first was aboutPororo, also known as "Potongryeong", or a combination of the terms "Pororo" and "daetongyong", which means president in Korean. Pororo has enjoyed tremendous popularity since its debut ten years ago. Aired in 127 countries, the character has posted ratings of 51.2 percent on a French public network.

Pucca in character series stamps.

The second series was about Pucca, whose Asian eyes, black hair in pigtails and red dress exudes Asian charm and leaves an unforgettable impression. Unlike most other cartoon characters, she made her debut on stationery and accessories, and her eventual entry into animation won her fans not just in Asia, but also in Europe and South America.

Robocar Poli in character series stamps.

The latest stamp series centers onRobocar Poli, which received the prestigious President's Award at the Korea Contents Awards 2012 and drew explosive attention among children. A number of children were seen crying in asking their mothers to buy Robocar Poli action figures in front of toy stores. The figures were sold out early on, prompting parents to look for them in other regions of the country.

[Korea's first "Happy Meal" toy]

Earlier this year, "YooHoo Friends", representing five species of endangered animals, were selected as toys for McDonalds Happy Meals. The toy collection comprised Yoohoo (bush baby), Pammee (fennec fox), Rudy (capuchin), Chewoo (red squirrel) and Lemmee (lemur catta).

[White piggy rabbit born in doodles]

A cute chubby rabbit that resembles a pig is the brainchild of a university student, or more precisely, her doodling.

Yun Hye-ji, a junior at Sookmyung Women's University in Seoul, createdMolangwhile scribbling in class. She uploaded the rabbit on her private blog, and then began to attract attention from blog users and won over more fans.

Following a recent licensing agreement with a French company, Molang has taken on more diverse forms, including as emoticons (icons representing facial emotion) in the SNS chat appKakaoTalk.

"I came to upload Molang on my blog to receive some feedback from the public", Yun said. "I believed that the feedback would help me further develop my drawing skills and I let people to use it free for non-profit purposes".

Her blog receives an average of around 3,000 hits per day.

By Lee  Seung-ah, Photos courtesy of the Korea Post
Korea.net Staff Writer
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