![\"null](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/news-p.v1.20260716.f80409b69e7e4e728847c09cb16d8224_P1.jpg\"\/ "\\"K-Character")
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On the 16th, the opening day of the “Character Licensing Fair 2026,” Korea’s largest character event, COEX in Samseong-dong, Seoul, resembled a popular idol concert venue. Word spread that K-characters enjoying global popularity could be seen in one place, and news that the trending girl group Lycenne would attend as promotional ambassador drew massive crowds from the early morning.<\/p>\n
![\"null](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/news-p.v1.20260716.9d37d4aa088846429f2e0c982b560880_P1.jpg\"\/ "\\"K-Character")
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The “Character Licensing Fair 2026” and “Board Game Con 2026,” hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and co-organized by the Korea Creative Content Agency, will run for four days through the 19th in Hall A on the first floor and Hall B1 at COEX in Samseong-dong, Seoul. This marks the 25th Character Licensing Fair. This year in particular, thanks to the global success of Netflix animation “KPop Demon Hunters,” the popularity of K-characters and merchandise was hotter than ever.<\/p>\n
The elevated status of K-culture was clearly felt in the industry sector. This year’s event, themed “Expand: Content IP,” showcased cases where characters combine with various industries to create new added value. A total of 186 companies from home and abroad, including leading Korean character companies such as K-Vision, H&F, and Iconix, set up 443 booths. The “Build-Up Pavilion” exhibited collaboration cases between character companies and related-industry firms, while the “Hallyu IP Pavilion” introduced famous Hallyu IPs and content supporting related industries. Through the “Animation Special Pavilion,” visitors could encounter excellent animation works created by Korean companies in one place. Indeed, the booths of the companies the reporter visited that day were packed with visitors who came to see popular characters. The booths of leading domestic character firms were especially popular, including K-Vision, which holds “Pororo,” “Tayo,” and “Zanmang Loopy,” and H&F, which holds “Esther Bunny,” “Kim Hamjji,” “Shuya,” “Momorei,” and “Common Siblings.” Kim Hyun-jun, licensing team leader at Iconix, said, “Not only ‘Pororo’ and ‘Tayo,’ but also the new work ‘Lunapet’ is receiving huge interest,” adding, “The response is good across all age groups, from young children to the elderly as well as teenagers, and several consultations with overseas buyers are already scheduled.”<\/p>\n
![\"null](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/news-p.v1.20260716.8f3848e5cf94401c9ed3d9737dac4435_P1.jpg\"\/ "\\"K-Character")
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A woman in her 30s who said she has visited this event with her children for three years said, “The kids love it so much and they can also do hands-on activities, so we came,” adding, “I am satisfied that it is an event adults and children can enjoy together.” A 5-year-old girl who was getting a nail experience smiled and said, “I like it because it’s so pretty,” and “I want to come again.” Shinhan Bank, the only financial company to set up a booth, drew attention by presenting “Shinhan Friends.” A man in his 30s smiled and said, “I came in because my main bank has a character,” adding, “It’s both novel and fun.”<\/p>\n
The Hallyu IP Pavilion, which supports product planning, development, distribution, and marketing using Hallyu IP, also captivated visitors. This year’s Hallyu IP Pavilion, named “K-IP Lifestyle House (K-IP HOUSE),” displayed various IP-based products against backdrops of home spaces such as the living room and kitchen, proposing new experiences and values that K-IP creates in daily life. A KOCCA official said, “We displayed a traditional liquor edition using ‘Reborn Rich,’ and the interest is intense,” adding, “We were able to confirm once again the infinite possibilities that K-content can create.”<\/p>\n
![\"null](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/news-p.v1.20260716.b9f3b12c3fcf4b2f8c302dc11f5f3d18_P1.jpg\"\/ "\\"K-Character")
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Meanwhile, the girl group Lycenne, appointed as promotional ambassador for the “Character Licensing Fair” for a second consecutive year following last year, took the stage and performed amid enthusiastic cheers from visitors. Lycenne said, “It is an honor to serve as promotional ambassador again this year following last year,” adding, “Please show lots of love for Lycenne’s official character ‘Remini,’ too.” They introduced various merchandise using the characters Jota, Ming, Ripu, Jjeoroming, and Yam, which are based on the group’s five members Won-i, Liv, Minami, May, and Jena.<\/p>\n
Kim Yoon-ji, president of KOCCA, said, “Characters are expanding beyond characters themselves into content IP that creates diverse value across games, broadcasting, beauty, and music, and are creating new value by connecting with various fields.” She stressed, “There is also research showing that a $100 million increase in exports of the Hallyu industry, which encompasses content IP, leads to a $200 million increase in related-industry exports and a domestic production inducement effect reaching $570 million,” adding, “As content IP has infinite scalability, we will create new cooperation and business opportunities.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On the 16th, the opening day of the “Character Licensing Fair 2026,” Korea’s largest character event, COEX in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":90477,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[47627,32611,47631,47629,47628,199,1029,912,47630],"class_list":["post-90476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-korea","tag-character-licensing-fair-2026","tag-coex","tag-content-ip","tag-hallyu-ip","tag-k-character","tag-k-culture","tag-kocca","tag-kpop-demon-hunters","tag-lycenne"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}