Seoul City-Yongsan Dragons Produce and Donate Children's Healing Storybook for Victims on 'Child Abuse Prevention Day'

Civil-Government-Academia Joint Volunteer Group Yongsan Dragons and 18th Sign 'Social Issue Solution Design Expansion MOU'

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] On the 19th, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that it will join forces with the Yongsan Dragons, a volunteer coalition formed by companies, universities, and public institutions located in Yongsan-gu, to heal the hearts of abused children using the Hoyatoto design character in observance of the ‘Child Abuse Prevention Day.’

They agreed to jointly produce the ‘Hoyatoto Cloth Book’ (Hoyatoto Will Comfort You), featuring the character ‘Hoyatoto,’ and donate it to shelters where abused children stay. The storybook contains a message telling children who blame themselves for abuse, “It’s not your fault.”

Over the past three months, Seoul and the companies and institutions belonging to Yongsan Dragons collaborated from story planning to design development and fundraising to jointly develop the storybook. Each company and institution actively contributed their capabilities and know-how.

On the 18th, Seoul and eight companies and institutions of Yongsan Dragons signed a business agreement to expand social problem-solving design projects and held a joint production and donation event for the storybook using ‘Hoyatoto.’ At the donation event, 100 executives and employees from the eight member companies of Yongsan Dragons gathered at Yongsan Station Plaza and completed a total of 225 storybooks developed so far. The employees attached decorations symbolizing comfort and courage, such as hearts, flowers, and airplanes, to the books and personally wrote postcards to the children.

The completed 225 cloth books will be donated along with the ‘Hoyatoto Attachment Doll’ to the Child Rights Protection Agency, an organization under the Ministry of Health and Welfare. The donated books will be distributed and utilized at 79 shelters for abused children nationwide through the Child Rights Protection Agency.

Seoul and Yongsan Dragons will continue to produce and donate Hoyatoto dolls, play kits, and cloth books annually to Yongsan and other local communities, continuing their support projects related to child abuse. They also plan to continuously promote design projects aimed at solving social problems, such as expanding the Design Governance project and improving idle spaces in Seoul.

Joo Yong-tae, Head of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Culture Headquarters, said, “This agreement is especially meaningful as it actively utilizes the capabilities and know-how of each Yongsan Dragons member company to realize social value,” adding, “Through this agreement, not only will social issues in the blind spots of public services be resolved, but we also hope that the effects will continue steadily through sustained support.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.