KRRI Character Kring Unveiled as a Sculpture at 27th Anniversary

The Korea Railroad Research Institute (KRRI) unveiled a sculpture of its character Kring at its 27th anniversary ceremony on March 21, 2023. The character, first introduced in 2022, appeared as a three-dimensional sculpture at the ceremony the following year.

The name Kring combines KRRI, the institute's English abbreviation, with "ing." The character is shaped like a honeybee, and its face is shaped like the front of a train. By putting a train's face on a honeybee's body, its design shows that it represents an institute that researches railways.

KRRI also distributed stickers and emoticons featuring Kring. With the sculpture's unveiling, a character used as an image on screens and stickers now stood in physical form at the ceremony. The 27th anniversary ceremony marked the institute's birthday and became the first occasion to show the Kring sculpture.

News of the sculpture's unveiling was recorded on the KRRI blog in March 2023. After its introduction in 2022, Kring expanded its uses to a sculpture in 2023, as well as stickers and emoticons.