Yeongju City's Tourism Character "Byeolbyeol Friends" Selected as Top 30 at Korea Character Awards

by Jo Chunghyeon

Published 25 Nov.2025 12:56(KST)

Gaining Attention as a Creative Character Embodying Local Culture and Tourism Brand

Yeongju City in North Gyeongsang Province announced on November 25 that its tourism-specialized character, "Byeolbyeol Friends," developed by the city, has been selected as one of the top 30 outstanding characters at the 2025 Korea Character Awards.

Yeongju City has been selected as one of the top 30 at the Korea Character Awards and is taking a commemorative photo. Photo by Yeongju City

This selection is the result of high recognition for Yeongju City's contribution to the development of the character industry, based on its unique local culture and creative content.

The "Korea Character Awards," hosted by Digital Chosun Ilbo, selects and honors outstanding characters in the industry, public institutions, and local government sectors through a comprehensive character survey and expert evaluation. Yeongju City's "Byeolbyeol Friends" was created as part of the "Anbinnakdo Tourism Brand Development Project," which was promoted in 2021 as a Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism regional tourism development initiative.

"Anbinnakdo" uses the Chinese character for "guest" (賓) instead of "poverty" (貧), symbolizing a city that warmly welcomes visitors and encourages them to enjoy their stay. This concept modernizes the values of consideration, dignity, and leisure embodied by Yeongju's seonbi (Confucian scholar) spirit and has become the foundation of the city's tourism brand direction.

Based on this brand direction, Yeongju City incorporated the unique charm of its rich Confucian cultural content into the word "Byeolbyeol," which means a city filled with a variety of unique experiences and sights. The image of seonbi leisure and the healing power of nature are expressed as "leisure," resulting in the tourism brand "Byeolbyeol Leisure Yeongju." The brand's visual elements organically combine the "gat" (a traditional Korean hat symbolizing seonbi culture), "leaf" (representing Yeongju's natural environment), and "star" (spreading the city's appeal like starlight), creating a brand image that harmoniously blends tradition, nature, and emotion.

"Byeolbyeol Friends" brings this brand image to life through characters, with five friend characters each representing a symbol of Yeongju. Yeongju Seonbi and Yeongju Doryeong convey the virtues of learning, etiquette, and leisure. Sobaeki embodies the spirit and natural healing energy of Sobaeksan Mountain. Buseoki represents the spirit and dignity of Buseoksa Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Byeoli is a starlight fairy that adorns Yeongju's night sky, symbolizing the city's sentiment and hope.

These characters are expected to serve as friendly guides for both citizens and tourists in a variety of areas, including festivals, social media, and tourism promotional materials, helping to raise awareness of Yeongju.

Yu Jeonggeun, Acting Mayor of Yeongju City, stated, "Byeolbyeol Friends is a character that modernizes the diverse charms and the leisurely spirit of seonbi, and it serves as Yeongju's representative tourism brand based on the philosophy of Anbinnakdo. Going forward, we will continue to develop Yeongju as a tourism city of leisure and dignity, where all visitors can experience warmth and relaxation."

With this award as momentum, Yeongju City plans to further enhance the utility of its characters in various fields, including the development of tourism merchandise, expansion of tourism content, and strengthening of domestic and international promotion, thereby boosting the region's tourism competitiveness and city brand value.