2025 Joayong Festival Draws 45,000 Visitors Over Two Days

Yongin Special City, Gyeonggi Province, held the 2025 Joayong Festival in September 2025, and 45,000 people visited over two days. The festival featured 29 characters from 18 organizations. On-site pop-up sales exceeded 14 million won ($10,000), far above the expected 3 million won ($2,200).

Joayong is a mischievous dragon whose name combines the Facebook "like" (joayo) with "yong," the dragon (龍) in Yongin. It started as a social media character in 2016 and became the city's official character in 2022. The Joayong Festival brings together characters from across South Korea, and Joayong is its star.

The number of places selling merchandise also grew. In November, Yongin opened the third Joayong in Store merchandise shop, at Suji District Office, stocking about 130 kinds of goods. Joayong pop-ups at seven E-Mart stores brought in 41.14 million won ($30,000) in sales.

Yongin promoted Joayong through three permanent merchandise stores, the E-Mart pop-ups and the character festival. A single festival drew more than 40,000 visitors, and the number of stores grew to three.