K-webtoon artists enjoy cartoon-like moment in New York

Cartoonist Kim Kyu-sam felt hopeless in 2006. He had been let go from a magazine that published his cartoon, and his career as a cartoonist seemed to be over. He felt like all the years he devoted himself in his 20s after dropping out of college were useless. At the age of 29, he looked into taking an exam to become a licensed real estate agent.

Around that time, a young employee of Naver who introduced himself as a cartoon fan called Kim and asked him to draw cartoons to be published online. “An opportunity for webtoons opened up when I was about to give up on cartoons,” Kim said. “I started to draw ‘Jungle High School,’ which brought me recognition.”

Eighteen years later, Kim found himself in the middle of Times Square in New York on Thursday (local time). He was accompanied by other first-generation webtoonists from South Korea, including Jo Seok of “The Sound of Heart” and Son Jae-Ho of “Nobless.” Naver Webtoon held a signing event on Thursday for local webtoon fans to celebrate its listing on Nasdaq.

Naver’s bell-ringing ceremony at Naqdaq was attended by Kim Jung-gu, the head of Naver Webtoon, who, in fact, called Kim 18 years ago. The stock price of Webtoon Entertainment, the North American corporation of Naver Webtoon, closed at 23 dollars on the first day of being listed, which is 9.5 percent higher than its offering price. The company’s market capitalization is estimated to be around 2.9 billion dollars.

The webtoon artists who met reporters in the Nasdaq building said they were surprised by the excitement of overseas fans. “I feel like I am in a TV show featuring the hypothetical success of webtoons,” said Jo. “We started small, but now we provide our cartoons across the world, which is hard to believe,” said Son.

The webtoonists said multiple times that they couldn’t believe the global attention they are receiving 20 years after the early days of webtoons when traditional cartoonists looked down upon webtoons. “Many cartoonists left the industry due to financial struggle,” said Kim. “Now, there is even a joke that doctors quit to become webtoonists. I feel a palpable change.”


Hyoun-Soo Kim kimhs@donga.com