Daejeon City Selects New Kkumssi Family Characters: "Onsol," "Onbit," and "Jaemnyangi"

Clover and Heart Motifs Symbolize Communication and Warmth

Photo by Daejeon City

Daejeon City has selected three new characters for the Kkumssi Family: "Onsol," "Onbit," and "Jaemnyangi."

The additional selection was promoted by Daejeon City, Daejeon Tourism Organization, and Daejeon Design Promotion Agency to expand the Kkumssi Family character universe.

The newly released characters are Onsol and Onbit, who are the parents of Kkumsuni, and their pet cat Jaemnyangi. Last year, during the Daejeon 0 O’Clock Festival, Kkumdori’s parents, Geumdori and Eunsuni, were unveiled. This year, with the debut of Kkumsuni’s parents, the roster of characters has been further expanded.

Through collaboration among the three organizations, the planning, design, and world-building were systematically carried out, resulting in a higher level of completeness.

While last year’s Kkumdori’s parents, Geumdori and Eunsuni, symbolized gold and silver to convey symbolism and tradition, the new characters embrace a warmer universe by adding emotional values such as "happiness," "empathy," and "love."

The expansion of the parent generation characters is expected to make the relationships between the characters more three-dimensional and provide a foundation for naturally incorporating intergenerational empathy and the meaning of family.

The new characters use clover and heart as their central motifs. The clover symbolizes luck, growth, and hope, while the heart represents love, communication, and warmth. Through these motifs, the focus is on delivering positive messages to citizens in their daily lives.

The character profiles have also been specified based on their roles. The father, Onsol, is depicted as a biologist who studies nature and the environment and brings small moments of luck and hope into daily life. The mother, Onbit, is an astronomer who supports citizens by empathizing with their hearts and conveying love.

The pet cat Jaemnyangi is designed as a guide for cosmic journeys and will serve as a bridge connecting new experiences and enjoyment throughout the city.

In addition, the names of these new characters were finalized with citizen participation. Many citizens submitted various ideas during the naming contest hosted by the Daejeon Tourism Organization from April 14 to 20, and the final names were selected after review. The final names reflect the characters’ identities and were chosen to be memorable and relatable for citizens.

Daejeon City plans to actively utilize these new characters in a variety of cultural and tourism content, expand related projects such as merchandise production and citizen participation programs, and further strengthen city branding based on these characters. The aim is to continuously establish a differentiated city image unique to Daejeon.

Park Seungwon, Director of Culture, Arts, and Tourism at Daejeon City, said, "These new characters are especially meaningful as they were completed through the collaboration of the three organizations and citizen participation," adding, "We will continue to develop content that naturally integrates into citizens’ daily lives."

Meanwhile, following the improvement of the O-World Zoo’s operation and management system, Daejeon City is reviewing plans to develop and utilize the "Neukgu" character, with the intention of reinvesting character revenues into animal welfare projects and using them for public benefit.

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