'All of Us Are Dead' shines spotlight on webtoon it is adapted from

The main page of Naver webtoon ″Now at Our School″ created by cartoonist Joo Dong-geun which was adapted into the Netflix Korea series ″All of Us Are Dead.″ [NAVER WEBTOON]

It looks like the global popularity of Netflix Korea's zombie horror “All of Us Are Dead” is earning attention for the webtoon it is based on.

Naver Webtoon announced Wednesday that the viewership hits for the webtoon increased by 80 times, and weekly interaction by 59 times, since the release of the Netflix series on Jan. 28.

The webtoon “Now at Our School,” which was adapted into the Netflix series, is by cartoonist Joo Dong-geun. It was published on Naver from 2009 to 2011.

Naver Webtoon said foreign viewers of the Netflix series seem to be showing interest in the original work as its English language service called Webtoon also saw a surge in the number of users. The number of views for the English version of “Now at Our School” on Webtoon also increased by 21 times, according to Naver Webtoon.

Currently, the webtoon is available in 10 languages including English, Japanese and French.

Naver Webtoon said because there are several more films and series that will be made available on Netflix this year, which are all adaptations of webtoons on Naver, it will make sure as many international readers as possible can enjoy the original content in their own languages.

The next webtoon-based Netflix film will be “Moral Sense” by director Park Hyun-jin. It will become available on Feb. 11.

BY YIM SEUNG-HYE [yim.seunghye@joongang.co.kr]