A growing number of foreign cartoonists are debuting in South Korea’s webtoon industry, as the local market is expanding at a rapid pace.

Japanese cartoonist Akiko Higashimura is one of the foreign cartoonist to join Naver Webtoon, one of the biggest online comic portals in Korea, with “Fake Affair” (literal translation). 

Known for her romance comic series “Princess Jellyfish,” Higashimura’s new work entitled “Fake Affair” targeting Korean readers centers around a Japanese character who travels to Seoul and accidentally introduces herself as a married woman to a Korean man and their romance.

Naver began to publish “Fake Affair” in its Japanese online platform in December, before introducing it to Korean readers.

A-man, a cartoonist from Taiwan, is also being featured on Naver’s webtoon service, with his work “Ghosts of the Night: Demons and Creatures” drawing positive reviews from Korean fans.

More collaboration is under way between Korean and foreign artists. Story Company recently held a contest for Korean and Japanese cartoonists with plans to publish works from three teams sometime later this year.

Webtoon is a rapidly growing entertainment genre here. Naver had garnered more than 40 million monthly active users worldwide as of last October, with 18 million from South Korea, the company said during a conference call last year. 

By Yim Hyun-su (hyunsu@heraldcorp.com)