Culture ministry to operate carbon-neutrality pop-up with webtoon characters

The culture ministry said it will open a Yumi's Cells-themed pop-up in Seoul on Aug. 22 to introduce young visitors to carbon-neutrality practices.

Called "Save Us! Carbon Zero Influence Cell Village," the pop-up will operate through Aug. 30 at Hongdae Star Square in Mapo-gu, Seoul, from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Admission is free without advance reservations.

Visitors will complete escape-room-style assignments alongside the webtoon's characters, including fishing marine debris from the "Blue Carbon Fishing Ground" and solving a fashion cell's carbon-overconsumption case. Character merchandise and other souvenirs will be given away on a first-come, first-served basis.

The ministry chose an escape-room format rather than one-way policy messaging and located the pop-up in Hongdae, a commercial district with heavy young foot traffic, to make the topic more accessible to young people. "We hope young people will experience ways to practice carbon neutrality in daily life by completing escape-room missions, and that its zero influence will extend to people's everyday lives," a ministry public communications office official said.

The ministry also unveiled Carbon Zero Influence, a policy brand developed with the National Climate Crisis Response Committee. The committee and related ministries plan to use it in future carbon-neutrality policies. The ministry said the name combines the zero of net zero, a state in which atmospheric greenhouse gases no longer rise, with the Korean word for influence.