Seoul POPCON

Seoul POPCON, formerly known as Comic Con Seoul, is an annual pop culture convention held in Seoul, South Korea. It is a celebration of all things pop culture, including comic books, movies and television shows, video games, cosplay, and more.

Comic Con Seoul was launched in 2017 by ReedPop, an American event organizer known for its pop culture events held worldwide. ReedPop events include C2E2 (Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo), PAX (Penny Arcade Expo), EGX, Emerald City Comic Con, Florida Supercon, MagicCon, MCM Comic Con, New York Comic Con, and Star Wars Celebration.

The inaugural Comic Con Seoul was held from August 4 to 6, 2017 at COEX Convention & Exhibition Center in the Gangnam District of Seoul. The event featured over 100 exhibitors (publishers, video game developers, film studios, etc.) and attracted more than 41,000 visitors over three days. Celebrity guests include Japanese actor, voice actor and singer Toshihiko Seki, Japanese idol Ai Shinozaki, Korean-born American actor Steven Yeun, Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen, Japanese voice actor Sōichirō Hoshi, and a number of Korean comic book authors.

Comic Con Seoul ran for three consecutive years from 2017 to 2019. In 2020, the event was put on a pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Two years later, the convention was relaunched as Seoul POPCON (short for Seoul Pop Convention), presented as an expanded and improved version of Comic Con Seoul. The Korean event company Exporum took over from ReedPop as the convention’s organizer.

Seoul POPCON is a global convention that presents a wide range of pop culture-related content from various industries, including films and television, animation, video games, comics, webtoons, music, and new industries and trends such as VR, metaverse, IP business, and NFTs.

Seoul POPCON has three main exhibition sectors: Game Con (PC games, console games, mobile games, indie games, XR, AI, etc.), Comic Con (animation, webtoons, comic books, cosplay, figurines, etc.), and Live Con (movies, television shows, streaming platforms, OTT, etc.). There is also the main stage that hosts interviews and Q&As with star guests, a cosplay competition, and a real-time game tournament.

The program of Seoul POPCON also includes meetings with special guests (authors, directors, comic book authors, illustrators, cosplayers), signing events and photo ops, vocal and dance performances, workshops, presentations of new films and television shows, special events for video game fans, a creator’s alley, a drawing zone, a cosplay parade, and other exciting events and activities.