Seoul taps aespa's Karina, Winter and RIIZE to drive global tourism push

Karina, Winter and RIIZE named honorary tourism ambassadors

'Seoul Syndrome' concept captures longing to return after a visit

Campaign spans food, beauty, nightlife and K-culture

Nine videos to roll out on Visit Seoul channels

Karina and Winter of aespa, named 2026 honorary Seoul tourism ambassadors [Seoul Tourism Organization]

The Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Seoul Tourism Organization are launching a global marketing campaign featuring K-pop artists Karina, Winter and RIIZE to showcase Seoul's everyday life and culture — and to build the kind of emotional attachment that brings visitors back long after they leave.

The city and the organization named aespa's Karina and Winter and RIIZE as 2026 honorary Seoul tourism ambassadors Wednesday, kicking off the "Absolutely in Seoul" campaign. The artists will appear as modern-day celestial beings to highlight the city's appeal.

This year's Seoul tourism campaign, built around the message "The place where the extraordinary becomes ordinary — Absolutely in Seoul," frames the transformation visitors undergo as the "Seoul Syndrome." The term, coined for the campaign, captures the longing people feel after leaving Seoul — a desire to return to the everyday moments and cultural experiences they encountered there.

The campaign videos portray Seoul's pull in fantastical terms: food that only makes you crave more, ordinary moments that feel like scenes from a K-drama series, and days that blur seamlessly into nights. The clips also highlight the city's draws across food, beauty, nighttime tourism and K-culture.

The videos will roll out sequentially starting with a teaser Wednesday, released through the Visit Seoul YouTube channel and social media accounts.

RIIZE, named 2026 honorary Seoul tourism ambassador [Seoul Tourism Organization]

Alongside the campaign videos, online events will invite fans to share their own "Seoul Syndrome" moments in the comments. Fan-participation content will also include a voice quiz in which listeners hear Karina, Winter and RIIZE members speak at the same time and must identify the Seoul nighttime attraction they all name.

Starting in mid-October, offline events tied to the campaign will open at five Seoul Tourism Information Centers — at the Tourism Plaza, Myeong-dong, Incheon Airport Terminal 1, Incheon Airport Terminal 2 and Gimpo Airport — and at two Seoul My Soul Shop locations, at Gangnam Station and Yeouido Han River Park. Visitors who complete a mission at any one location will receive specially produced artist posters, photo cards and other campaign merchandise.

Through these activities, the organization aims to extend fan interest to destinations across Seoul and translate that attention into actual visits and tourism experiences.

From October, the campaign will expand overseas. Videos will appear on out-of-home media in major cities including New York's Times Square, and will air on CNN in more than 133 countries to reach potential tourists worldwide.

Kim Byung-min, chief executive of the Seoul Tourism Organization, said the campaign "connects the global influence of K-culture with Seoul's diverse tourism offerings to make people around the world want to experience Seoul for themselves." He added that the organization aims to "showcase the city's appeal by day and by night, accelerate the era of 30 million international visitors, and build Seoul into a global tourism destination that keeps people coming back."

terry@heraldcorp.com