After the strong showcase of manhwa content in 2023, 2024 felt like a lighter year for its presence at Otakon. However, the mission of the manwha content programed remained the same; educating people on the history and culture of Korean through manhwa. One of the primary advocates of Korean manhwa history is Park Seulki Rhea, the daughter of the creator of Dokkotak, one of the most popular and iconic manhwa characters in Japan, and CEO of the Dokkotak company, which is dedicated to preserving and promoting her late father’s work and legacy. Last year, Park appeared at Otakon in costume as Dokkotok and participated in events and interviews in-character. This year, Park appeared as herself and presented herself as a cultural ambassador, serving many roles including as a language and cultural educator, content creator, social worker, performer, and cultural anthropologist.
While last year’s panels were focused on spotlighting specific manhwa, the history of the medium in Korea, and generating familiarity and interest in the character of Dokkotak, Park’s focus this year shifted towards panels teaching Korean to attendees and a panel about the best places to visit when in Korean. Park did a few manhwa-specific panels, namely one focused on the history of educational manhwa with educational manhwaga Moon Inho. Park and the Dokkotak company really emphasized how people can be educated about Korea through manhwa and the importance of manhwa as an educational tool in Korea.
While I really enjoyed the manhwa panels at Otakon 2023, I unfortunately wasn’t able to attend any of the manhwa content at Otakon 2024 due to competing commitments, including my interview with Park, which was scheduled for the same time as when I was hosting my Akira Toriyama retrospective panel. Thankfully, Sakaki and Jecka from Weekly Shogakukan Edition were able to fill in and ask my questions for me. During the interview, Park explored how she sees herself as a cultural ambassador, the role of educational manhwa, and her recommendations for people who want to learn Korean and other languages!
Read on below to learn more about Park Seulki Rhea, her educational work, and bridging cultures through manhwa!
The following interview has been edited for clarity, grammar, emphasis, and length.
Interview with Park Seulki Rhea at Otakon 2024!
Park Seulki Rhea: I’ve already seen [them]*, but please tell [them] to stop by at our booth**, because we have a booth-
Jecka: Oh yeah! No, I’ve seen it. Yeah.
PSR: 1640,*** it’s like.
Jecka: [to Sakaki] It’s by the [booth] you saw books for [Detective Conan].
Sakaki: Oh! Right, right.
PSR: I’m not there today, but maybe tomorrow.
Rhea’s assistant: Yeah, tomorrow we’re generally there.
Jecka: Ok.
PSR: If you wanna say hi. (laughs)
Sakaki: Ok. Well, we did introductions. (laughs)
Jecka: Um, sort of. I’m actually the writer of the blog [Weekly Shogakukan Edition] that’s there [on their business card], yeah.
Sakaki: We more specialize in manga, but like yeah.
Jecka: Yeah. I mean, I’ve read a few manhwa. Like not… I don’t think I’ve read any of your works, but I am at least a little familiar with Korean media.
Sakaki: Yeah.
PSR: My name is Rhea, and I’m the CEO of Dokkotak Company. Dokkotak is the name of a character that my father created back in 1971, and he was one of the biggest figures in the South Korean manhwa field since the 60’s to the 90’s. And he actually continuously worked until his passing day. But, he actually passed away so suddenly without…
Jecka: Aw…
PSR: Yeah, we didn’t actually expect that when it happened. So, that’s why [I became the CEO]. I’d actually worked on something so like very different from what he was doing when I had to take over this way, because I’m the only daughter, you know.
Jecka: Yeah. Aw.
Sakaki: Okay, so, that kind of answers the first question, so…
(everyone laughs)
Okay, so, what inspired you to discuss educational manhwa and do workshops on learning Korean and teaching manwha to kids… at this year’s Otakon?
PSR: What I was actually wondering was whether… ah, I forgot the name of the guy that should’ve come here.
Jecka: Varun?
PSR: Varun?
Sakaki: Uh, Siddharth is…
Jecka: Well there’s-
Sakaki: Sid. Siddharth was the one that was supposed to come, and then [their] brother…
PSR: Siddharth. Uh-huh.
Jecka: And then [their] brother-
Sakaki: Varun was going to take over, but then he asked me if-
PSR: Oh, that was Siddharth?
Sakaki: Yeah.
Jecka: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we’re like, third in line.
Sakaki: (laughs)
PSR: Is Siddharth the, like, Indian?…
Sakaki: Yes.
Jecka: Yeah.
PSR: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, [I was wondering] whether you or the other people actually interviewed Mr. Moon?
Sakaki: [They] met… [They] did mention that last year [they] enjoyed the presentation with manwha history.
PSR: Mm-hmm.
Sakaki: So maybe that’s what [they were] talking about?
PSR: No, I don’t think so. So, the Korean educational manhwa is a… the thing is, it’s more of a major of Mr. Moon, the other author that came with us.
Jecka: Oh…
Sakaki and Jecka: Ok.
PSR: So he was preparing for that, the panel for that, so I actually helped him. While doing that, I actually touched on some other issues – the reasons why Korean educational manhwa has so flourished. It may have become flourished because of the censorship, which had been so severe during the military regime during the 60s and the 90s. So that part, because it was my father’s heyday. So I touched on that. So that’s why I was actually on the panel.
Sakaki: Oh ok.
PSR: My father is not very… he was not the manhwaga – which is a cartoonist, which means cartoonist – manwhaga who was focused on educational manwha. But he actually drew some manwha [that]… he [was] more focused on the drama, family drama, or sports manhwa. But since his manhwa were so popular, he actually drew some educational manhwa for sports. Like how to play, basically. How to play golf. (laughs)
Sakaki: Oh, ok. Ok.
Jecka: Yeah, yeah.
On that topic, what potential do you see in a market for educational manhwa overseas?
PSR: So that… I can’t answer.
(everyone laughs)
PSR: You know? But I think, because in my personal opinion as a person who is working in the manwha industry, is that I see Korean educational manwha for children is a very unique genre.
Jecka: Yeah!
PSR: Because I don’t see it from other countries that much. But every household has so many educational manhwa for children. So if you read… if it would be, like, translated and exported to other countries, it would be a big hit, I think. But the other author that I came with, Mr. Moon, his colleagues are actually working on a lot of science education manwha, and their works are actually interpreted and exported to a lot of countries in Southeast Asia. Asian countries, they’re in. But not to English, in English-speaking countries.
Jecka: Yeah.
Sakaki: Ok.
Jecka: To go off… here we get… America is kinda picky about what we get over here. But it feels like a lot of the things, if it’s too childish, like it doesn’t do as well. But, I mean, like there’s still an open market for a lot of different genres, so yeah.
Sakaki: So, [LumRanmaYasha] actually mentioned Moon Inho. So in this question.. [they] mention that he likes that the workshops this weekend are geared towards teaching making manwha to younger audiences. As a cultural ambassador for manwha and Korean pop culture overseas, how do you approach introducing manhwa to children versus adult audiences?
PSR: Um… like, would there be any differences? I’m not sure, because any generation can enjoy manwha as it is, I think. Because usually, my father… when my father was drawing manwha, it was aimed for younger kids, but a lot of adults actually read it and loved it. And some of the… some of his work were done for adults, but a lot of kids actually read it and they loved it, so I think there isn’t that much difference. But I’m not in the… I’m not a very professional, like, industry person, maybe that’s why. But as a… like, just a manwha person, I think it shouldn’t be so difficult, or like difference.
Sakaki: Yeah, no, because I mean like in this… even in America, you know, they have the sections for stuff, but like kids just gravitate to what grabs them on the cover, or what word of mouth, you know. So that makes sense.
PSR: But what if the content is too harmful for children, then?…
Sakaki: Yeah, no, of course.
Jecka: Yeah, of course. Yeah. (laughs)
PSR: My father’s manhwa is not bad, because he is… well, he drew them lot during the censorship period, so… (laughs).
Sakaki: Yeah.
Jecka: What parts of manhwa’s history and development as a medium and an industry do you think is not as well understood overseas that you wish more overseas fan knew about?
PSR: I have actually talked about this, in the beginning I brought it up too, but the thing is these days there’re a lot of webtoons who are well-known to foreign audiences, and they are made into many other media. Media like the movies or K-dramas, and even Hollywood dramas, Hollywood movies, and American dramas and foreign series. But I hope more older type of manwha, Korean manwha, will be introduced to the foreign readers and manwha-lovers, manga-lovers, or comic-lovers. Because there are very great works done which we.. I think, I don’t want to blame the government or whatever-
(everyone laughs)
PSR: -But they don’t make much effort on actually continuing the… or like having the succeeding legacy of the old content compared to new things. So that’s like one of the parts that I’m actually really working on really, really hard back in Korea too because I am one of the younger generation of, like, old manwhaga. The daughter of an old, famous manhwaga. So I actually speak up a lot, because you guys (the government) actually have to do this. Because a lot of webtoons are famous, but after like a few years they’re all forgotten.
And old Korean manhwas, they are alive. They have been alive for like twenty, thirty years. Yeah. Because that’s because they have the power, content power, so. And you should actually keep that legacy and try to practice so that these days, good webtoons and other content should also be kept until the future, but like… I think Korean society is kinda… weak. It’s the weak point of Korean society, yeah. Like, how to just keep the good stuff. Yeah.
Jecka: Yeah. It’s sort of… like what you said is it kind of seems like manhwa now has a certain type?
PSR: Yes!
Jecka: That it probably is like romance or supernatural or stuff. And if it doesn’t get an adaptation, like a K-drama or the like, nobody really knows about it. And then after a few years, like you said, it kinda just fades away, you know?
PSR: Yeah. So I feel really sad about it, because it’s good that the webtoon industry is really large right now, but I can totally see that it’ll be so gone in a few decades, in a few years. So that’s the part that I’m really sad about, so I speak up a lot and I actually make a lot of effort to actually keep the legacy alive.
Sakaki: Mm-hmm. Okay. After Otakon, what’s the next step in your efforts to promote awareness of Korean manhwa and culture?
PSR: Um… Actually, what I should do as an individual is to do my job really well, I think. So for me, I have to work on Dokkotak. I have to work on Dokkotak in Korea first, and then if it’s… going to be revived again, as it was so popular back in the 70’s and 90’s. Because he was one of the most well-known characters, like called like the “national brother.”
Jecka: (laughs) Oh yeah yeah yeah.
PSR: So like if it becomes so famous, then since the K-culture is so popular, then a lot of people in other countries would know it. And also, the Korean culture too, because I love to embed a lot of Korean culture and languages and all the knowledge into my content. So that way I can… I think I can find some ways to let the people know and learn about a lot of great things about Korea through these manhwa contents.
Jecka: What aspects of Korean culture do you want to help people learn more about through your work as a cultural ambassador, and through pop culture like manhwa?
PSR: I hope… first I hope like a lot of people are interested in the public content, like pop culture of Korea. But, I really hope they would learn the language too. Because like learning, knowing the language really broadens their understanding of the culture. So knowing the language, and not knowing the language, would be so different.
Because I know that, because I learned… English is a foreign language to me, it’s not even a second language. So, like, while I’m learning other languages, my understanding towards the culture gets like so deeper. Getting deeper and broader. So I hope many people are trying to learn the languages, so that they can understand the culture better. Because, when you know the language, then when you actually watch the movies, or the dramas, or listen to the lyrics of the song, then you would get much more than what you should get without knowing the language, so yeah.
Jecka: Yeah, you start picking up on it.
PSR: Yeah! So…
Sakaki: Yeah, no. I mean, I could relate to what you said because like… I taught myself Japanese because I wanted to watch anime. (laughs)
PSR: Why?
Sakaki: I wanted to watch anime and play video games. Like, Pokemon was one of the games I had in Japanese, but I couldn’t understand it. So it was just like, I took a dictionary and I started teaching myself, and even though I don’t play the games that much anymore, I just was like “I love the Japanese language.”
PSR: Right.
Sakaki: So much so, and the culture. So even though I still read manga, I don’t play games as much, but now it’s like fostering that. Being able to understand language definitely just opens doors that you would not have if all you did was just watch a movie every once in a while, yeah.
PSR: I think the beauty of knowing the language is, like, you get the subtlety, the meaning, and then the cultural meaning hidden in the language, such as humor. Like the… yeah, like you can actually laugh, laugh at the same time with all the people [who are native speakers]…
Jecka: Instead of like the five-second lag that takes between you reading the subtitles and like, yeah.
PSR: And subtitles actually don’t do it for everything.
Jecka: Yeah, yeah! Especially like since it did adapt it a little bit, so you’re not reading, like, twenty words on a page or whatever, yeah.
PSR: Yeah. I think I really recommend a lot of people to learn Korean language. (laughs) It’s difficult. Well, it’s not that difficult in the beginning, but it’ll get difficult toward the end. But Korean people really like to help others, help people who speak other languages to learn Korean. So you will find your language mate really easily, if you want.
Jecka: Okay. I think we have time for one more question… How have your experiences teaching both Korean and English in the U.S. versus Korea compared?
PSR: Yeah, I don’t try to employ different teaching styles, because usually Korean teaching styles and American teaching styles are really quite different.
But I try to develop my own teaching style, because I have learned in Korean way, but I have learned to teach in American way. So I kinda mix and match both, because there are some good parts here, and there are some parts here, so I try to mix those two. And, at first, like when I was teaching that way in Korea, back in Korea… like the older teachers were like “oh that’s… isn’t that too casual?” at first. But students loved it, and parents loved it, and the other professors and teachers also loved it in the end, because the students learned much better. So actually, they adopted my way of teaching in the end.
So I think… yeah, it has differences. Like, the two countries have a lot of differences. But I think… these days, I think it – the differences – became less and less, and there are a lot of teaching methods. Yeah, so what to pick is dependent on… like, it depends on the teacher.
Sakaki: Yeah. I mean, the one thing that’s nice about pop culture is that you have more people getting interested in it. I mean, for themselves, as opposed to like “oh, I have to learn this in school for a grade.” Because like, when I was growing up you had to learn a language to leave, so (laughs). And that didn’t really facilitate well if you weren’t interested in the language. But nowadays where you can just go on TikTok or Twitter and you can see these different cultures, you’re like “oh, I want to learn that language, that looks interesting.”
PSR: Yeah. The first thing that I actually recommend students to do is that to like just find the pop culture content that you would really love in that language and just watch it and listen to it over and over again until you’ve memorized it all.
Jecka: Yeah, the way that I did it for Japanese and when I started watching K-dramas, I did end up learning at least most of the… not the alphabet, the characters. So I can read a little bit of Korean, not too much. (laughs)
PSR: I learned my English through friends, my friends.
Jecka: Yeah, there you go! My dad I think learned English watching, like, American movies with subtitles, so I mean I like totally get that.
Sakaki: Yeah, even… I mean, I understand Japanese, and when I watch things in Korean I always hear the Japanese person I’m always like “oh, I know that word!” so… (laughs)
But yeah, I think that’s all the time we have.
Jecka: That’s all we got.
Sakaki: This was really good, to meet you.
Jecka: Yeah.
Sakaki: Thank you for taking time out to talk to us.
Jecka: Thank you.
*Editor’s Note: Rhea is referring to me (LumRanmaYasha). I previously interviewed her (when she was in-character as Dokkotak) and talked with her a few times during my coverage of the manwha panels and events at Otakon 2023.
**Alas, Sakaki and Jecka unfortunately did not tell me about the booth or that Park had told them to tell me to come by to say hi. Hopefully I’ll have a chance to meet her again next year!
***The Dokkotak booth’s number in the Exhibit Hall. Sadly, I was so busy at Otakon this year that I did not have a chance to visit the Exhibit Hall during the entire weekend!
Thanks to Sakaki and Jecka for filling in for me for this interview, read their coverage of Otakon 2024 on their blog here!
Thanks to Park Seuki Rhea, the Dokkotak company, and Otakon press relations for making this interview possible!
