World Webtoon Festival 2025: Total success in Seoul with local and international fans

He World Webtoon Festival 2025 (WebToon World Festival) is on everyone’s lips! Today at Locos Por Korea we already have the fresh media reports that confirm that the event has been a resounding success.

The festival, which has been held since Sunday, October 19, is closing Today (Wednesday, October 22, KST, we will expand with the results) in the complex Lotte Town of Jamsil with the ceremony of the long-awaited prizes. I tell you all the details of what happened and what is to be defined.

Jamsil transforms: a larger and more global festival

This year, the organization (the Ministry of Culture and Kocca) learned from the criticism of the first edition. The biggest change? move from Seongsu-dong to the gigantic Lotte Town.

The fans have appreciated it. According to the testimonies of attendees of the World Webtoon 2025, they praised the new location saying, ‘Last year parking was complicated‘, a fan commented, ‘This year, it is connected directly to the metro… the accessibility is much better‘.

Maru is a puppy world webtoon festival 2025 stand — Maru is a Puppy stand, Word Webtoon Festival 2025

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But the change was not only of place, but of spirit. To overcome the criticism of being an event ‘Too Korean‘This year the World Webtoon Festival 2025 He opened to the world:

International fans: A large influx of foreign fans was reported. A visitor from Taiwan, a fan of ‘The Remarried Empress’, was happy to be able to buy merch Exclusive in the cradle of your favorite webtoon.
Global Vote: included the ‘Readers’ Choice Award‘ (Reader’s Choice Award), decided by global online voting.
International Talent: Among the 26 nominees for the main awards, three Japanese artists were included, a clear sign of inclusion.

The paradise of merch: From pop-ups to real steel weapons

This is where the festival World Webtoon Festival 2025 He demonstrated his commercial power. The Lotte World Mall It became the dream of any fan, with 12 companies, including giants like Naver Webtoon, , Daon Creative and d&c media, presenting more than 1,200 types of products of more than 200 webtoons.

Thematic zones and fury for sales

The level of detail was impressive. Every pop-up It was an experience:

‘Maru is a Puppy’: He created a ‘café-café’-style themed zone. It was so popular that it required prior reservation and exhausted its merch the first day!
‘lookism’: He set up an arcade playground.
‘Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint’: He offered themed food and drink.
‘How to Hide the Emperor’s Child’: launched special products inspired by its own Lotte Tower.

The good news for those who walk around Seoul is that these stores pop-up Specials will remain open until October 26.

‘Solo Leveling’ and luxury collecting

the prize for the most impressive exhibition of the World Webtoon Festival 2025 He took it ‘only leveling’. In a unique collaboration with the Posco steel giant, they created a life-size replica display of the protagonist’s weapons!

In addition, for collectors, hardcover editions and limited global hits such as ‘The Remarried Empress’ and ‘Tomb Raider King’.

Solo Leveling merch, world webtoon festival 2025 — Solo Leveling stand, World Webtoon Festival 2025

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More than shops: A festival for creators and fans

But World Webtoon Festival 2025 It wasn’t just a place to buy. Korea’s goal is to consolidate itself as the ‘originating country’ of the industry. For this, the festival offered a lot of cultural activities:

Historical exhibition: on the ice rink Lotte World He mounted ‘The chronicle of the webtoons‘, a journey through the evolution of the format.
Fan Events: There were live drawing demonstrations, author signatures and an expected dubbing show with the famous voice actor Nam Doh-Hyeong.
Talks with the industry: authors of works who made the leap to K-dramas or movies, like ‘ITAEWON CLASS’, ‘Terror Man’ and ‘Shark’, shared their experiences.
industry presence: Not only were the Webtoons platforms; Giants like Netmarble and Wacom (the tablets that artists use!) also had their own Booths.

The Grand Final: The World Webtoon Festival 2025 Awards (happening now)

As the festival has already fascinated Miles, the finishing touch is happening right now in Korea. the ceremony of World Webtoon Awards It is celebrated today, Wednesday, October 22, KST, in the Lotte Cinema World Tower.

Although the jury has already selected the 10 winners of the main prizes (pure heavyweights!), the expectation is total to know who gets the three great awards that are announced live:

The Grand Prix (Grand Prize)
The President of the Jury Award
Reader’s Choice Award

Attention! These are the 10 winners, among which the major prizes are defined:

‘The Uncanny Counter’ (The K-Drama ‘Hunting for Evil Spirits’!)
‘Myst, Might, Mayhem‘
‘The Fourth TimeS The Husband‘
‘Like Mother, Like Daughter‘
‘Maru is a puppy‘
‘lookS Antique Shop‘
‘Tears on a withered flower‘
‘Father, unrivaled‘
‘Omniscient Reader’ (The omniscient reader!)
‘Get schooled‘

Without a doubt, this World Webtoon Festival 2025 It has been a success that consolidates the power of K-Content. Keep an eye out for ‘Crazy for Korea’ that as soon as we have the final winners, we’ll tell you!

What did you think of the festival? why merch Would you have queued without hesitation? I read you in the comments!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about the World Webtoon Festival 2025

Q: What is the real importance of webtoons in Korean culture? It’s gigantic! Webtoons are much more than digital comics. Today they are considered the Korean New Wave Heart (Hallyu) and an ‘inexhaustible source’ of intellectual property (IP). They are the quarry from where the ideas for K-dramas, movies and video games that triumph around the world come from. The Korean government itself, through agencies such as Kocca (mentioned as co-host of the festival), promotes them as one of its main cultural exports and an industry that already generates billions.

Q: When did the World Webtoon Festival start? The festival is very recent, which shows the boom of the industry. The first (opening) edition was held last year, in 2024, in the popular Seongsu-dong neighborhood in Seoul. The 2025 edition, which has just ended in Jamsil, is the second, and as we tell you, it was much bigger and with a much more global approach!

world webtoon festival 2025 — World Webtoon Festival 2025

Q: What famous K-dramas are based on webtoons? The list is huge and keeps growing! In the article we mentioned two very clear ones that were also awarded or highlighted at the festival:

‘ITAEWON CLASS’
‘The Uncanny Counter’ (known as ‘Hunting Evil Spirits’ on Netflix)

But other giants mentioned in the festival that already have or will have adaptations are ‘only leveling’ (which exploded as anime this year), ‘Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint’ (Omniscient reader, who has a film in production with a cast of stars) and ‘The Remarried Empress’.

Other ultra popular K-dramas that you are sure to have seen and were born as webtoons include:

‘True Beauty’
‘All of Us Are Dead’
‘Sweet Home’
‘WhatS Wrong with Secretary Kim’
‘Nevertheless’ (still)

Q: Can I only read Webtoons if I know Korean? In what languages are they available? Not at all! Although they were born in Korea, the global success of webtoons has made big platforms translate their most popular titles into many languages. While not all webtoons are in all languages, major platforms like Naver Webtoon (Simply known as ‘Webtoon’ internationally) they offer their comics officially at:

Spanish
English
French
Germany
Indonesian
Thai
Chinese (traditional and simplified)

other giant platforms like Kakao Webtoon They also have official services in Thai, Indonesian and Chinese (Taiwanese), in addition to their main Korean platform. So you can enjoy the vast majority of world successes directly in Spanish!