More and more educational animations produced in Korea focus on safety education. The animations plant safety rules and the importance of obeying them in children’s mind by showing main characters encounter and overcome problems.

ICONIX Entertainment Corporation produced Tayo the Little Bus on August 2010. The main characters for the animation are blue, green, red, and yellow buses much like the ones that are easily seen in roads and streets in Korea. Passengers and drivers in the animation obey traffic rules to provide positive examples for children.

Robocar Poli, which debuted in February this year, was made by domestic manufacturer Roi Visual Corporation. The main characters in this animation are also vehicles, such as a police car, a fire truck, an ambulance, and a helicopter each having the capability to transform into a robot. It shows how they deal with car accidents and evacuation processes. Another popular one is Vroomiz by SAMG which also stars a car, as well as animal characterized.

The most famous character is Ikooo which showed up in May last year. Oops! Ikooo is a comic animation which sketches the life of the little alien prince Ikooo who happens to live on Earth. He is curious about everything and encounters a lot of challenges in his life. In two of his episodes, he went inside a laundry machine and he was almost kidnapped. The message about safety is delivered in an easy and interesting way for the perspective of children. This is why the medium appeals to children.

Oops! Ikooo is produced by experts in child psychology and safety education institutions, and then it is edited under the supervision of consultative organizations. The efforts of Maro Studio, which created Ikooo, were recognized when the animation won the best content award at the 2010 Korea Content Awards, organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency. The character was also a finalist in the NHK 2010 Japan Prize.

In addition, Ikooo is supporting the second-hand smoke prevention campaign and is a representative icon for the 2013 PyeongChang Special Olympics.


By Lee Seung-ah
Korea.net Staff Writer