Stories of Thai veterans of Korean War to be revisited in webtoon

The Korean Cultural Center in Thailand (Director: Mr Cho, Jae Il, 'The center') and Kakao Webtoon (Kakao), the representative webtoon platform from Korea, unveil the series, titled "One Day, My Favorite K-Pop Idol Group Leader Disappeared!" on September 24. The webtoon has been produced by the center and Kakao for the last 18 months to commemorate the sacrifices of Thai veterans who participated in the Korean War, to protect Korean's freedom and peace. The Center and the author, Kim, Suea met with Thai veterans in person and interviewed them about their experiences, after that Thai cartoonist Phoenix illustrated it.

As its title indicates, the historical fantasy begins with the sudden disappearance of the leading member 'K' of a chart-topping K-pop boy band named Little Tiger. While his entire existence begins to mysteriously fade from the public's memory, the protagonist Pim, a plastic surgery doctor and the only devoted fan who remembers him, ends up time traveling into the past ― to the outbreak of the Korean War. Pim's journey is expected to be filled with encounters with young Thai soldiers and watching their activities with sacrifices.
 

The band's name, Little Tiger, comes from the moniker given by the then-commander of the 8th United States Army to recognize the Thai battalion's valor.

The series will be released from EP1 to EP6 on September 24, and then will be published serially every Sunday, by 3 weeks on to 1 week off. The readers can enjoy free trial part of this series by the Center’s SNS and website. 

The center also hosts 'K-webtoon exhibition' with Kakao from October 10, to promote this series and famous Korean webtoon in Kakao, at the Korean Cultural Center in Thailand. There will be ‘meetings with authors’ event as well.

"Although there is K-pop fever among young Thai people here, they are not fully aware of the sacrifices made by Thai War veterans and the rice support from Thai government." KCC Thailand Director Cho Jae-il said in a statement. "This realization is what prompted us to launch this webcomic series to make them to remember Thai war veterans. I also hope that this webcomic series promote friendly relations between two countries, and it will be the successful Korean-Thai soft power cooperation."

Creators' profiles 

Author : Kim Suea
- From 2011, he has created projects and written stories of various categories including novel, radio drama and TV documentary.

Illustrator: Phoenix
- A freelance illustrator who debuted as webcomic illustrator from this work
- Bachelor of Fine and Applied Arts (Visual Communication Design), Burapha University

Author interview event will be October 10 at the center.