Second edition of World Webtoon Festival runs until Wednesday, closing with World Webtoon Awards highlighting 10 titles
| People look view booths at the 2025 World Webtoon Festival at Lotte World Mall in Seoul on Thursday. (Yonhap) |
Jamsil-gu in southeastern Seoul has transformed into a playground for webtoon lovers this week.
The 2025 World Webtoon Festival kicked off Sunday across Lotte Town, a vast complex connecting Lotte World, Lotte World Tower, Lotte World Mall and Lotte Hotel World. The event brings together creators, platforms and fans from around the world for a four-day celebration of imagination, innovation and the ever-expanding influence of webtoons.
The festival, cohosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency, offers a wide range of events: from workshops and talk shows covering webtoon creation or how to adapt webtoons into TV dramas and other media, to pop-up stores featuring merchandise inspired by hit webtoons and sweeping displays of the medium itself.
"The Chronicle of Webtoons" is a six-part special exhibition staged on Lotte World Ice Rink, tracing the evolution of digital comics from early sketches to global blockbusters. Visitors can also enjoy animation screenings such as "Maru is a Puppy" and "Dragon Girl Problem," live-drawing shows, artist autograph sessions, and a live dubbing performance by voice actor Nam Do-hyung.
| People view pop-up stores and booths at the 2025 World Webtoon Festival at Lotte World Mall in Seoul on Thursday. (Yonhap) |
Major players, including Naver Webtoon, Netmarble and Wacom, are hosting hands-on showcases, and over in Lotte World Tower, creators behind hit adaptations such as "Terror Man," "Shark" and "Itaewon Class" will be holding talks. Other highlights include lectures by Kakao Entertainment producers, and award ceremonies for the 2025 Naver Webtoon High School Tournament and the National College Webtoon Contest.
Ahead of the festival, pop-up stores opened Thursday throughout Lotte World Mall, featuring 12 companies selling character merchandise and lifestyle goods based on popular webtoons. All events and exhibitions are free to the public, ensuring easy access for casual fans and devoted readers alike.
The festival concludes Wednesday with the 2025 World Webtoon Awards at Lotte Cinema in the World Tower. The ceremony will honor ten titles, including the grand prize, jury president’s award, and the newly introduced readers’ choice award, selected through global fan voting.
| The 2025 World Webtoon Awards' main award winners (World Webtoon Award) |
Heart of K-content
Behind this effort to celebrate the webtoon industry and its creators lies Korea’s growing recognition of the field’s cultural and economic significance.
“Webtoons are at the heart of K-content. They’re our core and our original intellectual property. Only when this sector thrives can the entire value chain continue to grow,” said Culture Minister Chae Hwi-young on Thursday during a National Assembly audit session, stressing the importance of the sector.
Once confined to online platforms, Korean webtoons have now evolved into powerful IPs fueling films, dramas, games and merchandise. Notable examples include “Sweet Home,” which became a global Netflix hit, and “Hellbound,” another webtoon-turned-series acclaimed for its cinematic storytelling.
Other cases highlight the growing complexity of the webtoon ecosystem. “Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint,” which started as a web novel and later became a webtoon, has now been adapted into a feature film, while “Tomorrow” evolved from a webtoon into a major MBC drama and spin-off performance shows.
Korea’s webtoon industry continues to post robust growth, underscoring its expanding global footprint.
In 2023, the sector’s total revenue reached 2.189 trillion won ($1.54 billion), marking a 19.7 percent increase from the previous year and maintaining steady growth for six consecutive years since 2018, according to the Korea Creative Content Agency in January.
As Korean platforms and studios accelerate their overseas expansion, exports have become a key driver of growth, particularly in North America, where demand has risen sharply.
A Culture Ministry official said the World Webtoon Festival “serves as a global platform where webtoon professionals and readers celebrate creativity together,” adding that the government will continue to support the festival’s growth into a world-class event showcasing Korea’s leadership in digital comics.
| A map for the 2025 World Webtoon Festival (World Webstoon Festival) |
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