"Did a Local Government Create This Character?" Yongin City's 'Joayang' Soars in Popularity

Residents Flock to Emart Popup Stores... Some Products Sell Out
Mayor Lee Sangil: "Realizing Social Value by Supporting the Economically Disadvantaged with Profits"

At Everland, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Yongin City, Gyeonggi Province, there is a dragon character that stands out among various other mascots. Recently, this character has also been making frequent appearances at popup stores set up in large supermarkets in the Yongin area. This is 'Joayang,' a character based on the dragon, the symbolic animal of Yongin City.

Various municipal promotional characters introduced by Yongin City using the city character 'Joayang' (top left in the image). Yongin City Hall website

The character first appeared in 2016. At that time, the city created it for social media promotion, but it failed to attract much attention due to its somewhat intimidating and realistic appearance.

Eventually, in 2019, the city revamped the character, giving it a round body and a cute expression, and introduced the current version. Since its transformation, Joayang has been featured in a variety of municipal promotional characters, earning the affection of local residents.

'Joayang' at Popup Stores... A Case of Commercial Success for a Local Government Character

Joayang especially rose to national prominence last year when it was featured in collaborative merchandise with Everland's character 'Leshy.' Following this, there were cases of unauthorized use of the character by some companies, and even a government ministry released a character with a similar name and appearance, sparking controversy over copyright infringement.

'Joayang Popup Store' introduced by Yongin City at Emart Traders Guseong branch. Photo by Yongin City

This year, Joayang has also gained popularity at Emart stores in the Yongin area. The 'Joayang Popup Store,' operated in collaboration with Emart and the Yongin Regional Self-Sufficiency Center, has been attracting a steady stream of local residents.

The popup store first opened in February at the Emart Starfield Market Jukjeon branch in Suji-gu, Jukjeon-dong. Over its 25-day run, the popup store sold 2,562 items, generating sales of 12 million won. Some products sold out early, reflecting the high demand.

Subsequent popup stores at Emart Traders Guseong branch and Emart Suji branch recorded sales of 5.8 million won and 6.25 million won, respectively. This is a rare case in which a local government character has achieved commercial success beyond its original role as a symbol for municipal promotion.

The city plans to open popup stores at Emart Heungdeok branch from July 25 to August 7, and at Emart Bora branch from August 15 to September 4. In December, the final popup store of the year will be held at the Starfield Market Jukjeon branch, where the first popup store was launched.

The popup stores offer more than 80 different products. During the five previous popup store events, popular items included acrylic keyrings (830 sold), gel ink pens (344 sold), clear files (337 sold), mouse pads (280 sold), and metal badges (270 sold).

Reinvesting Profits into the Self-Sufficiency Center... A Virtuous Cycle Model for Job Creation

A portion of the profits generated from the popup stores is provided as incentives to workers at the Yongin Regional Self-Sufficiency Center. The city’s plan is to help self-sufficiency workers achieve economic independence and to reinvest some of the profits into local self-sufficiency projects, thereby creating a virtuous cycle of business growth and job creation.

Lee Sangil, Mayor of Yongin, said, "Joayang has become a beloved character for citizens of all ages and genders, thanks to its cute and friendly image. In particular, enhancing accessibility so that citizens can easily purchase character merchandise and establishing a collaborative system with local businesses is highly meaningful."

Mayor Lee added, "The profits generated from the popup stores are being used to realize social value by supporting the economically disadvantaged. We will continue to explore ways to expand the operation of popup stores in cooperation with Emart and various other community members."

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