Aju Business Daily

SEOUL -- Kakao IX, the character franchise wing of South Korea's web service giant Kakao, has opened a pop-up store in London's Hyde Park to sell special Christmas edition character plush toys and miniature music boxes.

Kakao IX said on Monday that the temporary project shop would open until January 5 next year. The company manages Kakao Friends, a lineup of character items favored by young consumers from Asian countries for cute designs with unique and interesting background stories.

Kakao IX had collaborated with TWICE, a K-pop girl band, in October to release special edition products including cosmetics planned and designed by band members. Top artists collaborating with character franchises are not rare in the K-pop scene. BTS has teamed up with LINE Friends, a character franchise of South Korea's top web portal operator Naver, to release products using characterized BTS members.

BTS also collaborated with LINE Friends in October last year to release a collection of 47 cosmetics products using characterized avatars created by BTS members.