Looking for a ‘purrfect’ souvenir from South Korea? Meet Choonsik the cat (춘식이), the most popular character from Korea’s Kakao Friends 카카오프렌.
There are Kakao Friends stores and concessions all over South Korea, including a flagship store in Hongdae. Kakao Friends are cartoon characters created to help promote Kakao Talk, a popular messaging app in Korea.
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Choonsik is a relatively new Kakao character but has been the breakout ‘star’ with lots of new Choonsik merchandise being released every month.
From characteristics to collaborations, merchandise to plushy prices, here is our ultimate guide to Korea’s Choonsik the cat 춘식이.
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Who is Choonsik 춘식이 ?
In our opinion, Choonsik is the cutest cat character out there, more magical than Mofusand and more joyful than Jellycat.
We have bought quite a lot Choonsik merchandise over the years including several plushies, tote bags, fans and t-shirts. Sadly we didn’t have enough room in our suitcase for the Choonsik in a sauna humidifier.
‘Born’ in 2020 and created by illustrator Kwon Soon-ho, Choonsik the cat lives with Ryan the Lion (another Kakao Friends character) and loves sweet potatoes, juice and naps in cardboard boxes (this sounds like heaven to us).
Choonsik occasionally likes to explore and gets into a lot of mischief – there are many official Kakao Friends videos on YouTube of Choonsik at play.
Another reason we like Choonsik is that they have a little round belly which we can relate to!
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Why is Choonsik So Popular?
Given all the Choonsik merchandise released every month, they are clearly a beloved cat – and there is more new Choonsik merch than any other Kakao Friends character – so what is it about this cute cat?
Although Korean and part of the Kakao Friends family, Choonsik’s cartoons and social posts are mainly without words (just cat noises) so they are suited to an international language.
The Kakao Friends merchandise also varies in price so you can buy basic Choonsik sticker sets from about 2,000 won which is inexpensive.
Even some of the Choonsik plushes start from around 9,000 won so it is much cheaper than many other Korean cartoon characters Line Friends and BT21.
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Choonsik Merchandise
It isn’t just plushes and soft toys you can buy – Choonsik the Cat 춘식이 and the other Kakao Friends also appear on lots of practical household items from phone chargers to bottle openers.
We’ve seen Choonsik on every type of branded item imaginable including umbrellas, money envelopes, cushions, mouse mats, seat belt covers, wallets and even multi cookers!
You can find a variety of Kakao Friends merchandise (including lots of Choonsik) on Amazon >
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Choonsik Collaborations
There are so many Kakao Friends collaborations out there but the cutest ones always feature Choonsik.
Perhaps the best recent 2025 Kakao Friends collaboration has to be with Squid Game, the huge Netflix Korea series which became their most watched foreign language programme of all time.
For the launch of both Squid Game 2 and Squid Game 3, Kakao released a whole series of plushies, keyrings and stickers.
Best of all, we bought a Choonsik Squid Game large plushie for around 38,000 won which sees Choonsik dressed as either a contestant in a green tracksuit, or as Young Hee, the scary doll from the “Red Light, Green Light” game.
This is one of our favourite ever Kakao Choonsik purchases – at the time of writing in June 2025, it is still available to buy in most stores.
Other recent Choonsik 춘식이 tie-ins include:
McDonalds
In April 2024, McDonald’s Korea teamed up with Kakao Friends to release a series of four soft figurines, plus limited edition meals called the Chunsik Collector Pack including sweet potato fries. It was so successful that they released two more figurines in July 2025.
Wiggle Wiggle
We bought a few items from the Wiggle Wiggle Choonsik range featuring summer travel themed designs in May 2025, including a cute snorkelling Choonsik plush keyring.
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Korean Baseball
Baseball in Korea is the biggest sport in the country so it is no wonder you can get a baseball Choonsik figure representing each of the KBO teams, and other Baseball merchandise.
Tom and Jerry
Kakao Friends teamed up with Tom and Jerry to release a range of collectible and lifestyle items featuring Choonsik dressed in Tom and Jerry themed costumes.
Perfect 10
A popular Korean fashion store, Choonsik and Ryan the Lion t-shirts are sometimes available to buy in Perfect 10.
Seoul Incheon Airport
In 2024, Seoul Incheon Airport featured images of Choonsik at self-check-in kiosks, bag drops, and on large digital displays.
Daiso
Daiso Korea have a fabulous range of Choonsik products with some items as cheap as 1,000 Won! Choonsik branded items you can purchase include plastic cups, plates and bowls, soap dishes, socks and baskets.
There also used to be a really cool Kakao Friends theme park in Busan ‘Ryan Holiday in Busan’ which we went to (and is a great thing to do in Busan with kids). But Ryan Holiday closed down in 2024. Honestly, they should have just rebranded it as Choonsik’s Holiday and it would have been a big success (probably)!
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Where are Kakao Friends stores 카카오프렌 in South Korea?
There are many Kakao Friends shops and concessions in South Korea, especially in Seoul.
The biggest Kakao Friends store in Seoul as of summer 2025 is in Hongdae.
Please note the Gangnam flagship Kakao Friends store has permanently closed down, as has the Kakao Friends Busan flagship store (카카오프렌즈 부산 플래그십 스토어).
We’ve bought Choonsik merchandise from the new 2025 카카오프렌 Kakao Friends store at Incheon Airport, Hongdae flagship store plus a small concession stand at Shinsegae Duty Free mall in Myeongdong.
We also rate the Daegu Kakao Friends shop 카카오프렌즈 신세계백화점대구점 at Cartier Shinsegae Department Store. It has lots of choice and is probably second only to Hongdae.
We’ve spotted Kakao Friends stores overseas too including several stores in Taiwan and small concessions in Kuala Lumpur.
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