Friendly faces

The Korea Character Licensing Fair 2019 kicked off Wednesday at Coex in southern Seoul. This year, the annual five-day festival holds 800 booths from 250 Korean and international businesses, including Iconix, maker of Pororo the Little Penguin and Tayo the Little Bus, as well as NCSoft and DreamWorks. Booths offer games and costumed characters for children to interact with and sell toys and other products on discount.

Until Friday, the fair will hold a series of talks under the theme of “Fandom Power and Universe Building,” inviting speakers from NBC Universal and Alibaba Pictures. Specialized workshops on content licensing, exporting and more are also offered to professionals in the field.

The fair, organized by the Korea Creative Content Agency, attracts over 120,000 young children, parents and professionals every year. Tickets are 10,000 won ($8.50) for adults. The Seoul International Cartoon & Animation Festival is also simultaneously running at the Coex branch of Megabox. [NEWS1]