The K-Narrative Team of SNU Contemporary Korean Studies holds a monthly colloquium to critically explore the emerging trends in contemporary Korean narratives. We invite active participation from members of the university community.

The April 25 session will focus on the theme of “romantic utopia” as a narrative thread running through Korean webtoons.

Title: Rewriting Romantic Utopia: Contemporary Desire through Romance Fantasy Webtoons

Presenter: Lee So-yeon (Sogang University)

Date & Time: April 25, 2:00–4:00 PM

Venue: Room 422, Building 14, Seoul National University

Format: In-person

On April 25, 2025, the K-Narrative Team of the Contemporary Korean Studies Institute at Seoul National University hosted the second session of its colloquium series “Narrating Contemporary Korea.” The event took place in Room 422 of Building 14, with Professor Lee So-yeon (Yonsei University) as the featured speaker.

Professor Lee’s talk, “Rewriting Romantic Utopias: Reading Contemporary Desires through Romance Fantasy Webtoons,” examined how romance fantasy has become a leading genre in the global webtoon industry. She highlighted the role of platform ecosystems and the noble comics system, and discussed works such as “I Shall Master This Family” and “The Remarried Empress” to show how themes of regression and reincarnation mirror social pressures while imagining new forms of independence and desire.

This colloquium showed how romance fantasy webtoons both reflect and reshape contemporary cultural scripts. By centering women’s stories, they open space for rethinking love, autonomy, and social order in Korea and beyond.